College Dayz
by 8560
Summary: On a modern college campus, the Suzaku Shinichiseishi discover life, love, and all the squishy little roadbumps along the way. AU. Not a reincarnation fic. Rated T for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer-well, if I owned it, I wouldn't be writing fanfic about it, would I? OCs, however, ARE mine and may you suffer in extruciatingly interesting ways if you steal them.

AN: This is an AU. General character relationships and personalities still apply, but various alterations have been made. Oh, and I hate Miaka. Ergo, slight bashing is expected when she appears/is mentioned at all. Also, went back to look at these and WTH? Where did all the line breaks go?

**Chapter 1**

"_You can't be serious."_

"_I'm nothing but serious."_

"_What's all this crap coming out of your mouth then?"_

"_I see those years by yourself hasn't improved your language any."_

"Language? _You wanna see _language? _I'll show you language you goddamn old—if you weren't just some damn image in my bathroom mirror I'd-"_

"_Do you want my help or not?"_

"_Fuck you. Why the hell did I bother calling you anyway? Should've known you'd milk the frigging thing for all its worth… What happened to blood being thicker than water?"_

"_Actually, blood is mostly made out of water. And we're not really related anyway. Since when have _you _been particularly affectionate about family?"_

"_Who are you to talk? You didn't show up until _after _both of them died. And when you've got relatives like mine, would _you_ put a whole lot of faith in your gene pool?"_

"_So you _don't _want my help?"_

"_No."_

"_What are you planning to do then?"_

"_I'll think of something."_

"_Really. Like what? Since you actually lowered yourself to call me, I thought that you were down to your last resort—"_

"_I _said _I'd think of something—"_

_Bang, bang._

"_Looks like you have company."_

"_Shut up! Shit, I didn't think they'd come after me this fast—"_

"_And that something you were going to be thinking of?"_

"_I said shut up! Goddamn it…"_

"_Look, as annoying and undoubtedly exasperating as you may be, I'd rather not see you end up with your brains splattered all over the floor."_

"_Little ray of fucking sunshine, aren't we?"_

"_Don't stupid. If there is one good thing I can say about you, I'd like it to be that you are not an idiot. I'm offering you a way out. Take it or leave it."_

"_I—"_

"_Well? You don't have much time left."_

"_I—shit, alright! Now get me the fuck out of here!"_

_The mirror shattered._

* * *

To begin with, a scream.

"WHAT THE HELL?

And another scream.

"AHHHHH!"

Turquoise hair rumpled and gray eyes blazing, Tamahome rushed out of his bedroom and ran straight into the solid bulk of Mitsukake, who was on his way downstairs. Since Mitsukake was half a foot taller and looked like he should be waving an axe and cutting down trees rather than studying medicine, Tamahome ended up flat on his back. But he was more preoccupied with being angry than hurt and waved away Mitsukake's silently offered hand.

"What's wrong, Tama-baby?" asked Nuriko, poking a violet-colored head out of his own doorway, long purple braid slipping over one shoulder. He was wearing a pair of pink pajamas that looked like they had been borrowed from his sister—which they might conceivably have been. Nuriko made no secret of his true sex, but the androgyne also was not shy about wearing clothes of both genders. He liked to think of himself as "gender-fulfilled." Nuriko yawned delicately. "It's too early to be yelling like that…"

Tamahome thrust the thing he had been carrying under his arm in Nuriko's face. "This! What does this look like to you?"

Nuriko blinked and studied the 2-D representation of thick blond hair, haughty good looks and arrogant blue-eyes. "A cardboard cutout of Nakago?" he asked incredulously, naming it, aka the Bane of Tamahome's—and by extension, the other residents of Suzaku House—life. Thank god the man graduated last year, off to law school to learn how to eviscerate his opponents with words rather than ki-blasts and pointy things. He GSI'ed at Shijentensho College, but the Chiriko hacked into the computer for the schedule and they avoided all his classes. "What are you doing with—"

"It was in my bed!" Tamahome snapped angrily.

Nuriko stared at the cutout, then at Tamahome before grinning. "And Nakago would be in your bed because…? Something you're not telling us, Tama-baby?"

Tamahome swelled. He was practically glowing red by now. "What? _I _didn't put it there! I just woke up and found it in my bed—What's so funny?" he demanded. Nuriko had collapsed against the doorway in mirth.

"Well, you gotta admit, it _is _pretty damn funny," drawled a voice from the stairway. Tamahome whipped around (nearly hitting Nuriko with the cutout as he did so) to face a vaguely wolfish looking young man about his age, with wild red hair. It was Tasuki, coming back from his morning run.

"Didn't like my present, Bakahome?" Tasuki asked wickedly.

"What? What do you—" Tamahome put two and two together. "You-! _You_ put thisin my bed?"

Unnoticed, Nuriko quietly slipped out from the line of fire and headed to the bathroom. The door was locked. He knocked. "Hello?"

"Serves you right for hiding my tessen like that!" Tasuki was yelling.

"Who cares about that stupid heirloom fan!" Tamahome shouted back. "Besides, you had laced my lunch with laxatives—"

"Hey, are you done in there yet?" Nuriko had to raise his voice over his two housemates' to be heard. He knocked harder. "Hello? Is anybody in there? Hello—"

The door opened to reveal the refined, aristocratic features of Hotohori, dressed with impeccable style as usual. He flipped long, silky brown hair over one shoulder. "I apologize for taking so long."

"Oh, that's all right," Nuriko said. "Sorry I had to yell; the two idiots are arguing again."

Hotohori sweat-dropped as he watched. "I see…"

Downstairs, Chichiri was in the kitchen, making pancakes. His arching blue bangs bounced as he deftly flipped one in the pan. As the oldest, Chichiri was the only one who wasn't currently a student on campus and generally acted as the house manager. He also was always one of the earliest up in the morning and ended up cooking breakfast a lot of the time—especially since he lived in the one bedroom downstairs. Mitsukake was already at sitting at the kitchen table, feeding scraps of pancakes to his small cat, Tama-neko. Suddenly there were loud crashing sounds as Tasuki and Tamahome (who were wrestling each other) rolled down the stairs. They landed in an uncomfortable heap at the bottom. Chichiri peered over at them.

"What are you fighting about now no da?" the ex-monk asked, immediately regretting it when they started shouting again. His volatile friends had done this enough times that Chichiri didn't bother asking whether they were hurt. "_Maa, maa,_" he said, waving his hands, "I'm sorry I asked no da. Just eat your breakfast."

Tasuki and Tamahome shot each other one last dirty look before doing so. They knew from previous experience that Chichiri would probably give them a cheerful thumping with his monk's staff (a relic from his Theology thesis) if they caused a mess downstairs.

* * *

The first thing that Meian thought upon seeing Mai again after three years was how little she had changed.

Stepping out of the taxi, Meian saw her old friend sitting on the front steps of the house, hunched together tightly in the same way as in middle school, sitting outside the principal's office while their parents (or in Mai's case, guardian) filled out the necessary paperwork. The jeans and shoes were still scuffed with wear, the hair still tangled ink brushwork, and the eyes still warily scanning the street. Once the taxi driver had finished uploading Meian's luggage onto the sidewalk and gotten his fare, Mai unfolded and came to met her.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," said Meian, just as awkwardly. Also a little self-consciously—she had forgotten how _tall _Mai was. At 5'5", Meian didn't consider herself a shortie, but Mai was a good head taller than she.

Mai, correctly interpreting her look, gave that familiar wry half-smile. She shrugged. "Well, I never did crack six feet," her accent a little more pronounced than Meian remembered, "but close. You should've seen the looks I got in—never mind," she said abruptly, and dug into a jean pocket. Fishing out two pairs of keys, she tossed one to Meian, who managed to catch it for once. "Wanna look inside? I was waiting for you to get here."

"Oh! Oh, sure. Umm…I hope you weren't waiting long…"

"Nah. Got here just a few before you did."

A few minutes later, Mai let out a low whistle when they finished bringing all the luggage inside. "Damn. She really did get a hell of a place."

Meian had to agree. It wasn't big—before being evolving into the student district, this area had been a rather fashionable for well-to-do once upon a time. This place, just the right size for two, was probably the guest house for that huge Victorian house they currently shared the backyard with. It had a nicely open floor plan, with the frontway merging easily into the common room and the kitchen/dining area behind that. The laundry room was next to the garage. The stairs to the second level were to the left of the front door, leading to a bathroom with two sinks, a shower, _and _a tub, and two bedrooms each supplied with their own balcony. The place was even furnished.

Mai tucked her hands in her pockets as she looked around one of the bedrooms. "Well, fuck me. Sure as hell beats the shithole I _was _living in. Though personally _I _thought that the mold gave the place some fucking character."

Meian winced-three years in an all-female college before transferring here had unacquainted her with the…saltier potentials in common vocabulary. And Mai's vocab was salty enough to cure fish.

"Yes, I'll have to thank your grandmother—"

Mai scowled. "She's _not _my—"

An explosion of noise drowned the rest of her sentence. Opening the doors to the bedroom's balcony, they stared across the fence that divided the backyards and listened to the morning ruckus.

"God," Mai said, leaning against the railing. "Is it gonna be like that _every _morning?" Standing on tiptoe, she leaned precariously over the rail and narrowed her blue eyes like she could see inside the house. "Hmph. Well," she said sliding a glance at Meian. "You, uh, want this bedroom or the other one?"

They both looked exactly the same to Meian, but she appreciated the gesture. "This one is fine, if you don't mind—Mai, what are you doing?" Meian asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" Mai was climbing on top of the thin metal railing. Hands in her pockets, Mai hopped lightly over the four foot gap between the balcony bedrooms like a kid jumping a sidewalk crack.

_Guh. _Meian fought against the urge to have a heart attack. They were on the second floor! That was another thing she had forgotten—her old friend apparently still subconsciously believed she was part cat, part monkey. Oblivious to Meian's heart palpitations, Mai rattled the outside knob. "Damn, left my keys—"

"Oh, um…" Meian began looking for the house key she had been given. "Where—" She looked up in surprise at the small click.

Mai tucked the lock pick back into her thick black braid and opened the door. "Hey, toss me my stuff, will you?" she asked. Meian, still a little taken aback, did so and was further shocked by the fact that there were only two duffels.

"Is that all you have?" she asked.

Mai shrugged. "Yeah. Well, the rest was kinda blown up—"

Meian frowned. "Blown up? What do you mean?"

"Uh…" Mai was clearly regretting that she had said anything. "Blown up? Did I say blown up?"

Well, even if Meian had forgotten about the curses and the monkey behavior, Mai's dissembling skills were as bad as ever. "Yes, you did."

"Well, not _exactly _blown up, more like… Look, just forget it. You don't want to know."

Meian blinked. "What—"

"No, you don't. It's a long, annoying, _incredibly _shitty story." Meian continued to give her a skeptical look. "Look, I wasn't doing anything real bad. You just wouldn't agree and since that old hag already _told _me that she didn't agree, I'd rather not hear it."

"But—"

"Meian, you'd better get some sleep," Mai said, abruptly changing the subject. "We don't have to go to class 'til tomorrow anyway, and _I_ didn't spend hours driving over here from my parents." She stepped inside her bedroom and closed the door with a little more force than necessary.

* * *

"Kusanagi, Shirou…"

The class had just begun and already Tasuki was having trouble staying awake. He hated this class and not just in the general way he disliked school either. English Literature…who gave a damn about a bunch of dead white guys and what all the drivel they had written about meant? If he read a book (which was rare; there were plenty of more interesting things that he could be doing with his time), he wasn't thinking about the author's message, theme, comment on the fragility of the human condition or whatever they were calling it these days. He was just _reading. _Why did they have to muck everything up with _analysis? _What was the _point_?

"Murasaki, Nodoka…"

It didn't help that Kazuki, the teacher for this class, was a straight-laced, anal-retentive prude. Can you imagine a guy who actually _dressed _like everyone's stereotype of a college professor? All brown tweed, horn-rim glasses and the expression of someone with a pole stuck up their butt. And he had to be the only teacher on the whole friggin' campus that _still _took attendance everyday. Of course, the longer roll call took, the less time they had to listen to Kazuki drone on and on about some writer's vision but still. It made things damn hard to cut class for one thing. Miss out too much and Kazuki would actually come _looking _for you.

"Yamane, Keisuke…"

Not that Tasuki actually paid much attention in this class or any other anyway. School was not one of his favorite things; he kept his grades passing and that's it. Well, except chemistry class, where he did better than pass—but that was only because he liked learning how to blow things up. At his high school, Tasuki and his friend Kouji (who attended the local college back home) were infamous for exploding the school science lab with a thimble of acid, a piece of cheese, and a Ping-Pong ball. But otherwise…whenever possible he simply copied the notes from someone else. In Kazuki's particular hell, he had gotten lucky—Tamahome, Nuriko and Chiriko all were in his same class. Of the three, he preferred to copy Nuriko's notes; Tamahome's were usually covered with sickening little love-doodles of his girlfriend Miaka and Chiriko's, while of a caliber only a thirteen-year old genius could achieve, were too much to copy by hand. Seriously, you could publish a book out of the notes Chiriko took.

"Yamamoto, Hanaka…"

Tasuki thought that Kazuki had caught on to him though. Several times Tasuki caught the professor sending him dirty looks and he certainly seemed to enjoy singling Tasuki out for in-class questions. But Tasuki was not an idiot and slacked intelligently; he scanned the notes for the last class beforehand and his answers weren't any worse than anyone else. And his test scores weren't bad enough for Kazuki's "personal intervention" to be justified.

"Chian, Mai." Kazuki got to the last name on his list, and waited. The students stared back at him in silence. She was evidently a last minute add-on; it was always the last to be called and not in alphabetical order…playing havoc with the professor's obsession with order and neatness. The mystery student also had to be the only person that Kazuki hated more than Tasuki—Tasuki at least showed up for class most of the time. "Chian, Mai" didn't, not once in the two weeks since term started. No one in their class seemed to know who she was, though he'd heard she had enrolled in other classes on campus and even showed up for some. She avoided Kazuki's though (not that Tasuki could blame her), and no one seemed to know where she was staying or how to reach her. This bugged Kazuki to no end and he always said her name with particular venom. The fewer girls in class the better, or so Tasuki thought, but he did wonder who she was.

At that moment, Chian Mai was sitting at home. Well, not _home_—Mai had never stayed anywhere that she would call _home _in the way the word was supposed to be meant. Perhaps the closest was those seven years she spent at her adoptive grandmother's, but she still didn't think that quite cut it. By comparison, this two-bedroom house that she shared with her friend Meian was barely more than a place to put her head down. Especially since she wasn't here by choice. Okay, so that wasn't quite true. She had had a choice between coming here and living or staying where she was and dying and chose the former. It was the obvious decision but in the last two weeks she had wondered if she might have preferred the latter.

Especially since she was so damn _bored. _Though being bored here was still preferable to being bored in some stuffy classroom.

Mai turned sideways and flopped on the couch with her head pillowed on the arm. Meian would throw a fit if she knew Mai was skipping class. Not a very spectacular fit, considering that Mai had seen some that involved bullets, knives and grievous bodily harm, but enough that Mai had been very careful not to let her friend know. To be fair, she didn't skip _all _her classes _all _the time. Taiitsukun had to be keeping some sort of tabs on her, so she made sure to make token appearances every so often. Except for that stupid English Lit class—she never even bothered to show up for that one. Mai was fluent in English (a by-product of a childhood in Hong Kong; she knew Chinese too) but didn't understand the need to analyze its literature to death. She had had enough of that in high school; she needn't deal with it in college too.

But now she was bored. Bored, bored, _bored. _There was nothing to _do _around here. Meian had timidly suggested Mai take a look at some of the campus organizations—Meian had already found a gardening club she liked—but Mai didn't even think that worth considering. These soft little middle-class citizens weren't likely to enjoy the same kind of things _she _did. But now she had nothing to _do. _It was frustrating. All the rest of her friends were overseas, but she couldn't even phone them to talk to for the same reasons that she had to choose coming here and living. Grr.

After a few more minutes of mental growling and scowling, Mai decided she'd better blow off some of this steam before Meian got home. She didn't want to snap at her only friend in this stupid place only two weeks in and the way things were going she would. Punching something would make her feel better, and the only way to do that (here, anyway) would be at the gym.

The campus gym was both old and new—that is to say, the existence of a gym had been well established but the facility had been recently updated and partially rebuilt. Tasuki and Tamahome went there several times a week, and entered the door with consequent familiarity. Sometimes they came here to use the equipment but most often it was to spar. That was part of the reason why they fought so much; nobody else they knew was good enough to go one-on-one with (except Nakago, but the less they had to do with him, the better).

The gym had a few more private rooms behind the main areas for those who would rather work out alone and they headed for the biggest of these. To their surprise, there was already someone in it, and clearly a girl to boot. Females weren't unusual in this place, but they'd never seen one back here before. A thick, black braid danced around her back like a cat's tail as she slugged the red, vinyl punching bag set up in the corner, hammering away at it with a look of terrifying concentration. Pausing to wipe the sweat from her face, blue eyes flicked over to the door and saw Tasuki and Tamahome standing there. She lowered her arm and glared. "Oh, it's you," she snapped. "What? Got nothing better to look at?"

Tasuki bristled at her tone, recognizing her as the same girl he and Tamahome had seen at the gym a few times before. Each time reinforced Tasuki's opinion that she was the most irritating girl he had ever met, quite possibly even more so than his stupid sisters. He was about to snap back when Tamahome (who was less temperamental than his friend) grabbed his shoulder and shrugged. After all, the girl didn't seem to be interested in anything other than the punching bag—that left the rest of the space free for their use. Dumping their bags in a corner, they walked to the center of the blue mats and started. It was a good workout, Tasuki thought, but starting to get a little tedious. The problem was, they had been fighting each other too long and already knew all of each other's moves. Sometimes they could go for fifteen minutes without laying a single hit on each other. It was more like dancing than sparring—and while that was cool itself, it also meant that neither of them was getting any better.

After almost an hour, they took a break. Tasuki was taking another sip from his water bottle when he realized that the girl from earlier was leaning against the wall and watching them. Breaking off what he had been saying to Tamahome, he glared at her. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"You two're martial artists, huh?" she said. "You're pretty okay, I guess."

_What the… _"Pretty okay?" Tasuki repeated, insulted. "Just _pretty okay?_" He was damn well better than just "pretty okay."

She shrugged. "Well, you're getting stale, aren't you?"

Tamahome, who was starting to see where this was going, trying to make placating gestures but he was no Chichiri. Tasuki ignored him. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Been fighting the same person too long, haven't you? You can't get any better that way. So stale, like I said."

These were the same conclusions that he had drawn, but Tasuki didn't appreciate hearing them from someone else's mouth—particularly not from some strange girl who said his fighting skills were only okay. "Since you're such a damned Einstein, why don't you tell us what we should do about it?" he said.

The sarcasm wasn't missed and he had the satisfaction of seeing the temper rise in those blue eyes. "Fine," she snapped. Throwing the towel that had been hanging around her neck on the floor, she started wrapping her long braid tightly around her head. "Fine. I'll show you."

Tasuki stared at her. "What?" he asked in disbelief.

"_I'll _fight you, dumbass."

He burst out laughing. Unnoticed, Tamahome started to retreat. "Don't be an idiot. I can't fight a _girl._"

Her lip curled. "Afraid I'll beat you?"

"_What? _Like hell!"

"Hmph." She walked over to the wooden rack in the back of room and plucked out two of the practice staffs the gym used for teaching martial arts classes. She threw one over to him; he caught it easily. "Here. Since you're probably too chicken to actually hit me, we'll use these."

"Who you callin' chicken?"

She took up her position opposite him. "Who do you think?"

He narrowed his eyes as they circled each other. "Don't run crying to mommy if I hurt you," he replied.

A few minutes later, Tamahome (who was standing safely off to the side) wished he had some popcorn. Or a camcorder. This was better than the movies; Tamahome had to admit that the girl was as good as they were. Since they were of a height, Tasuki eventually forgot that he was fighting a female—and he certainly couldn't hold back any on account of her sex.

At some point, they abandoned the staffs and went at it with their bare hands. Neither one gave any quarter and took their share of lumps. And neither gave up; the fight ended not because one overpowered the other but because neither had any more energy left to stand. Tamahome, appointing himself as referee, called it a draw.

"I almost…had you—" Tasuki panted, out of breath.

"The…hell you did," she replied, gasping.

"Hey…" With an effort, Tasuki raised himself up on his elbows. "What's your name?"

"It's—" Then she stopped, staring at the clock. "Shit!" With surprising speed, she grabbed her bag and ran out of the room, leaving Tamahome and Tasuki staring after her.

* * *

Meian stood at the front door of the house, looking anxiously up and down the street. After a few minutes, she realized that she had been wringing her hands like a '50's housewife and, slightly annoyed with herself, retreated indoors. She looked at the clock.

_This is stupid, _she thought. _It's not like you're her mother or anything—Mai's nineteen years old. So what if she comes home a little late? _Meian had returned from her last class of the day ten minutes ago, but to an empty house. Usually Mai was home already—despite Meian's shy prodding, she had yet to get involved in any sort of extracurricular activities—but today she wasn't. All her stuff (as little as that was) was still in her bedroom so it wasn't as if she had run away or anything…besides, she had promised.

But Mai just up and leaving was something that Meian had been worrying about these past two weeks. Meian had acclimated to life here fairly well, but Mai had made it perfectly plain that she didn't like it here and refused to even try. She had never liked school and being forced back under duress… Meian kept having the feeling that one day Mai would just give up and leave no matter what she had said to the contrary. And the only place Meian could think that she would go would be wherever she had been those years that Meian had lost contact with her. Mai had still refused to tell her friend just what she had been _doing _during that time, but Meian got the feeling that it wasn't entirely legal and what ever trouble she had gotten into was more than, say, a speeding ticket.

Meian didn't like this new distance between them, but supposed it was normal after such a long time apart. But they had been friends once…

Realizing that she had been wringing her hands again, Meian marched inside. She was too keyed up to concentrate on her homework right now, but she might as well do _something_ useful and went to the kitchen to fill up the metal teapot that doubled as a watering can. Meian liked plants, so one of the first things that she did upon moving here was place several potted plants around the house. The herbs went in the kitchen of course, and some pretty trailing flowers on her bedroom's balcony.

She finished with her side and reached out to do Mai's. Meian placed a few flora on Mai's side as well, in an attempt to make her friend's room more lived in; Mai had a sadly Spartan lifestyle and Meian wasn't entirely sure that Mai wasn't still living out of her duffel bags. The spider plant looked like it was doing fine and she watered it with little difficulty, but the ivy was proving hard to reach. The metal rail pressed hard against her midsection as she stretched her arm to its limit. She stood up on tiptoe, leaning more of her body over the rail…almost there…

Chichiri was exhausted, so exhausted that his face was aching again. It wasn't from any physical wound; when he was eighteen, a flying log had nearly killed him during a particularly bad rainstorm. They had gotten him to a hospital in time and, by the miracle of modern medicine, had sealed his face up without so much as a scar. Occasionally, when he was feeling tired or stressed, he got "phantom pains" from where the scar _would _have been—a large swath stretching over his nose and to his eye.

First thing that morning, he had to give a guest presentation on "The Practical Applications of the Gift in Everyday Life," with particular emphasis on charming objects. The Gift came in many different forms, though the most common were the Spell and Healing aspects of it (Spell was what most people associated with the word "magic," and Healing, of course, was used to heal). Chichiri's degrees were in Spell Gift and Theological Philosophy; he had done very well in his classes and some of his old professors still remembered. Occasionally they would ask him to come in and Chichiri often did so—after all, the university gave him a token sum as a guest speaker and a little extra cash was always welcome.

After that, he had returned to the house to mow the lawn, give the first floor a much needed vacuum (it was amazing how many crumbs five males can grind into the floor) and other daily chores. After lunch he went grocery shopping and was surprised to find a message from Taiitsukun on the answering machine. Former CEO of Shijentensho Co., she had turned the company over to a council of four about three years ago. Retiring to become the university's president (she had also founded it; no one knew exactly how old she was), Taiitsukun still owned a great deal of other properties including the apartment house Chichiri and the others lived in. They couldn't ask for a more irascible landlady (though Chichiri did not run screaming from her terrifying visage anymore) and Chichiri hurriedly packed the groceries in the refrigerator before going to see what she wanted.

It turned out that Taiitsukun wanted to know Chichiri's opinion of his new neighbors. Of course, he had known that the house next door had been recently moved into, but not gotten a chance to meet the residents yet. He had thought they were college students like his friends; the house windows were dark much of the day, but light in the morning and evenings. What Taiitsukun wanted to know was whether or not he had observed any strange visitors or activity next door—Chichiri told her that he had not, in an increasingly varied fashion as questions continued. Finally she let him go after about an hour. Much bewildered, he left.

Now he was lying flat on the couch, savoring the peace and quiet before his friends came home. While he did enjoy their company, the inevitable noise generated in their presence did grate occasionally. It was a pity that there were no lakes nearby…he would have like to go fishing once more before the weather turned…

Chichiri was just about to fall asleep when a scream split the air. He nearly fell off the couch and was struggled to right himself when it came again. Sprinting to the back door, he ran outside and across the lawn to the source: the house next door and one of the occupants that his landlady had been so interested in. There was a young woman a few years younger than he was hanging over the edge of one of the balconies on the second floor. She might have been pretty if her face wasn't pale and sweaty with fear and eyes wide with panic.

"Hold on no da!" Chichiri yelled and clambered over the chain-link fence. No ladders in sight and she probably would have fallen by the time he found one. He edged underneath her, blushed and looked away when he realized what a view he was getting, and held his arms out. "Just let go and I'll catch you no da!"

_Drop? _Meian thought above him. _What? Oh, you've got to be kidding… _This was so embarrassing. _Why _did she think that she could reach Mai's balcony from her own? _Why _couldn't she have just gone back inside? Kind people may call her "uniquely coordinated" but Meian knew that she was a klutz. An odd trait for someone aspiring to be a doctor, but her limbs seem to only malfunction outside the operating room (so to speak). When she had fallen, her first instinct was to scream for help—and of course it would be a _guy_ who answered, one no doubt getting the view of his life down there…_ Why did I have to wear a skirt today?_

"Don't worry, I'll catch you no da!"

"Ergh…" Meian said inarticulately. The problem was, she didn't see any other way out of this. _Mai_ might have been able to swing herself back up, but then Meian strongly suspected that _Mai _had the DNA of cat and a monkey fused into her somewhere along the line. Plus, Mai also _liked _getting up before six o' clock in the morning, juggled steak knives (Meian caught her doing so last week and nearly had a heart attack) and swore like a drunken sailor, so let us stop comparing ourselves to Mai, please?

Meian dropped.

Chichiri did not exactly _catch _her per se, as much as fall backward as her weight slammed into his arms. Hitting his head rather hard on the ground, Chichiri blacked out for a second or two and the first thing he saw when he revived again was a pair of very worried green eyes. He would have jerked backward if he hadn't been already lying down.

"Are you okay?" the eyes asked. They backed up until he could see the face they were attached to.

"Yes no da," he said, though he felt far from it. He tried to sit up and immediately regretted it; pain bloomed so hard and fast in his head that he nearly fell down again. Another pair of hands caught him: one supporting his back and another placed gently over the back of his skull. He felt the second touch and instantly relieve the agony with soothing warmth. Even when it was removed, most of the pain had still disappeared though he could still feel a sizable bump. Chichiri looked at the young woman in surprise.

"You have a Healing Gift no da?" His friend Mitsukake had a particularly strong Healing Gift so Chichiri was well aware of the effects.

She nodded. "A very small one… I think I prevented a concussion but—are you sure you're all right?"

Chichiri nodded gingerly. "Yes, I feel much better now no da."

"I think that we should still get you some ice…" She helped him up and they went through the back door of her house. Like Chichiri's own, it opened into the kitchen and he could see a living room beyond—though everything was on a much smaller scale. He heard the freezer open and she scooped out some ice, deftly transported it to a plastic bag, then wrapped the entire thing in paper towels. He took the bundle and placed in on the back of his skull.

"Thank you…" He paused, realizing he still didn't know her name.

"Meian," she supplied after figuring out that's what he wanted.

"I'm Chichiri no da," he returned. "Thank you, Meian-san no da."

He smiled at her then—it was meant to be perhaps grateful or reassuring but in reality it just sent her over the top. So far she had kept the abject embarrassment, shame and humiliation at bay (the fact that she had a patient on hand helped) but the sight of that smile just brought everything to the surface. She'd wanted to meet her neighbors (but had been entirely too shy to do so) and now that she finally met one the first thing she did was fall on top of him.

"I'm so sorry!" she wailed, and Chichiri actually took a step back at the sudden explosion, his brown eyes widening. "I'm so sorry, Chichiri-san! I didn't mean to fall on you—I was just trying to water the plants and I can't even do something like that right…I've wanted to come and met my neighbors for the longest time but I've always been too shy and now I just fell on you and maybe you have a concussion and huge bump on the back of your head and—" Meian knew she was babbling and couldn't seem to stop.

"Um…er…daa…" Chichiri was completely flummoxed. "It's…It's okay no da! It's just a little bump!"

"I want to be a doctor and all I do is fall on people—"

"It's really okay no da! I'm fine!" His hands waved around helplessly and finally one patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. "It's okay no da!"

"I should get the Nyan Nyans to fix me…" She sniffed and realized that she was crying. Mortified, she spun away, nearly collided with the counter and knocked over the dish soap grabbing a tissue. She actually missed the box a few times. Behind her, Chichiri sweat-dropped.

Meian blew her nose and honked. _Oh my god…_she thought. _I honked. I _honked. _Oh please, kill me now…_

"I'm really okay no da," Chichiri repeated cautiously, not wanting to trigger another fit.

She wiped her eyes. "A-are you sure?"

He nodded a little too vigorously but quickly suppressed a wince.

Meian realized that she was shredding the tissue and dumped it into the wastebasket. "S-sorry," she mumbled, feeling the red bloom in her cheeks. "A-about…the, um—" _Enormous blubbering fit I just threw._

Chichiri was saved from having to answer that when the front door slammed open. They both jumped and Meian nearly fell over. Chichiri grabbed her elbow to steady her.

"Meian?" someone yelled. "Where are you?"

"M-mai?" Meian blinked. "I'm in the kitchen!"

"Huh?" The newcomer came into view. She looked a few years younger than Meian, but definitely not as friendly. "Sorry I wasn't—who the hell are you?" she demanded upon seeing Chichiri. Chichiri suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a very piercing gaze that raked him from head to toe. It bore an uncomfortable resemblance to the one Taiitsukun trained on him for an hour earlier that afternoon. Realizing that he was still holding on to Meian's elbow, he dropped it quickly and stepped away.

"Mai, this is Chichiri-san," Meian said quickly, recognizing the look in Mai's eyes. "H-he lives next door. Chichiri-san, this is Mai. My housemate."

"H-how do you do no da?" Chichiri greeted nervously.

"Hi," she returned brusquely. Those blue eyes locked on the ice bag he was still holding to the back of his head. "What'd you do to your head?"

Once again, Meian interceded. "I, um, fell. From the balcony—I was watering the plants. Chichiri-san saved me."

Chichiri breathed a silent sigh of relief when Mai's gaze left him to settle on Meian. The hardness of her rather angular face softened in affectionate exasperation. "Watering plants? Shit, only you would be able to fall off the damn balcony doing something like that."

Meian pinked. "I didn't mean to…" She quickly changed the subject. "Mai, where did you go? I didn't see you when I came—oh, what happened?"

She was referring to the purpling bruise on the underside of Mai's jaw. With her head turned, Chichiri could see it too, and noticed a few more mottling the side of her forearms. Mai shrugged. "I went to the gym," she said dismissively. "Sparred with some guy I met there. And don't look at me like that," she added, when Meian frowned at her. "It was an _actual _sparring match, with mats and everything. I didn't throw anybody out the window. Or stuff them in the dumpster. Or break—"

"I didn't say anything," Meian replied, though Chichiri thought he heard a slight trace of amusement in her voice.

"You were thinking it. Look, I'm going to take a shower." And she abruptly disappeared up the stairs.

Meian looked profoundly embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry about that, Chichiri-san. Mai is, um…is um…" She seemed to be looking for the right words.

"It's okay no da," Chichiri told her. "I have a friend like that no da."

There was an awkward pause. After a while, Chichiri said, "Well, I'd better be going now no da…"

"Oh! Oh, right. It was, um, n-nice meeting you. I'm really sorry about the whole," she made a series of weird gestures that Chichiri realized later were pantomimes, "uh, falling on you thing."

Chichiri reassured her once again that he was quite all right and left. When he reentered the back door of his own residence, it appeared that the house was not in the empty state he had left it in; Nuriko and Hotohori were watching TV on the couch. The purple-haired androgyne looked up as Chichiri came in. "Hey, Chichiri-kun! We've been wondering where've you'd been. What happened to your head?"

"I was next door—"

"Oh, you met the neighbors?" Finding this more interesting than the show, Nuriko leaned over the back of the couch to look at him. "So what're they like? Spill!"

Chichiri sighed and briefly recounted the falling incident and its subsequent aftermath. Towards the end, Tamahome and Tasuki came walking in (still in their gym sweats) and made a beeline for the fridge.

"Hey! Dinner's soon no da!"

"Aw, c'mon, I'm fucking _hungry _you no da freak!" Tasuki whined.

"Hey, what happened to your face?" Nuriko asked.

There was a large bruise rounding out his jaw line. Tasuki scowled and Tamahome gleefully answered for him. "Some _girl _at the gym beat the crap out of Fang-Boy here."

"What?"

"She did _not _beat the crap out of me, you asshole!" Tasuki snapped. "It was a tie!"

Now Hotohori was interested. "You found someone better at martial arts than you?" he asked. "That _is _a surprise…"

"She was _not _better than me!"

Tamahome was dancing around the kitchen, singing, "_You got hit by a girl, you got hit by a girl_…"

"That's it! You're goin' _down, _Bakahome!" Tasuki lunged.

"Hey! What's wrong with the females, huh? We're as good as any of you chauvinist pigs!"

Chichiri and Hotohori sweat-dropped. "Nuriko," Hotohori said pointedly, "_you_ area _man_."

"I have the heart of a woman!" Nuriko declared proudly.

"Hey, Nuriko!" Tamahome yelled from the kitchen, having caught Tasuki in a headlock. "I thought you weren't doing that sort of thing as much anymore."

Nuriko sniffed. "Just because _you _can't be as gender-open as I am—"

"Cross dresser," Tamahome muttered. "Argh! Dammit!"

"Hah!" Tasuki wriggled out of Tamahome's grasp and switched their positions. He began noogie-ing him fiercely. "How ya gonna look nice for lil' Miaka-chan now?"

"Lemme go, you sonuva—"

"Miaka's coming here no da?" Chichiri asked, alarmed. Tamahome's girlfriend was barely two inches over five-feet but ate more than a sumo wrestler twice her height.

Tamahome threw Tasuki, and shouted, "No, we're going out tonight" before wrestling Tasuki to the ground.

"That's a relief no da."

"Oh, I heard Mits is taking Shouka out tonight too," Nuriko told Chichiri.

"Really no da? They're going out again?" Mitsukake had liked Shouka, a quiet botany major, for more than two years but hadn't been able ask her out until last week. Even then it took the Silent One more than an hour to force the words out. "Guess it's just me, you and Hotohori then."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Don't own it, and have no money. So don't bother.

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**Chapter 2**

Meian woke up the next morning to the sound of her alarm clock ringing—or rather, _singing _a happy little song that made her want to throw it at the nearest wall. She made a soft moan into her pillow before sitting up and shutting it off. She gave it a singularly unpleasant look.

Contrary to popular belief, she was _not _a morning person—which was why Mai had given her such a sickeningly cute alarm clock for her sixteenth birthday. Sometimes her friend had a very warped sense of humor; Mai had known that Meian who never get rid of a gift no matter how much she disliked it and never replaced anything unless she genuinely had to—i.e, it was falling apart and preparing to commit suicide. So she had been stuck with the stupid thing for the past five years.

Sighing, she admitted defeat and slid out of bed. Stumbling unsteadily down the stairs, Meian shuffled her way into the kitchen. Mai was already there, and considerably more awake than she was. In fact, she was arguing quite loudly over the phone with someone. Later Meian would wonder how she hadn't heard it earlier, but put it down to the cushion of morning grogginess. As it was, she simply clapped both hands over her ears and sidled behind Mai to get her breakfast.

"I really don't see what the fucking problem is. I'm here, aren't I? I'm going to your fucking school—you never said anything about _grades. _And I really don't see why they should matter. I _have _a job already, it's not like I'm going to _learn _anything _new—"_

Meian had to uncover one ear to take down the box of cereal and bowl from the cabinets; she carried them quickly over to the counter on the far side of the kitchen. It took several attempts, but she managed to get her still sleeping motor functions revived enough to maneuver the box over the bowl. She was rewarded by the cascade of grains into the white plastic (half of their kitchenware was plastic, owing to Meian's tendency to drop plates).

"I'll talk any way I fucking want. I've lived by myself _before _you came along…maybe not _well _but I can take care of myself—oh yeah? You know what you can do with that agreement, you can stick it up your wrinkled—hello? Hello?" Mai stared at the phone. "Shit. She hung up on me." Muttering darkly, she replaced the phone on the hook and turned around to see Meian bowed over her bowl of cereal and chewing methodically.

"AHHHH!" Mai yelled.

"AHHHH!" Meian yelled back, equally surprised.

"Don't _do _that! When'd you get here?" Mai demanded, one hand clutching the area over her heart.

"I just came down!" Meian replied. "You didn't know I was here?" One of _her _hands touched her head and felt the sand-brown strands. She hadn't combed her hair yet and had sudden visions of herself as a diminutive yeti-like thing. "Do I look that frightful?"

"No, you look _fine_—but god, Meian, you scared the crap out of me," Mai breathed, leaning against the counter. "I didn't hear you come in." She realized that while one hand was pressed against her chest, the other had grabbed one of the steak knives behind her in reflex. Mai put it back quickly, before her friend noticed. _Fuck, I nearly threw it at her. _Living in a house with someone else was going to take some work.

"Sorry," Meian apologized, calming down herself. "You were on the phone—"

"Yeah, that was the granny," Mai said sourly. "Apparently, she's not _satisfied _with my, uh_,_ progress and wants to meet me tomorrow. To talk about it." She made a face.

* * *

"Chian, Mai."

The usual pause. Then—

"Here."

The effect on the class was immediate. Heads swiveled around so fast that not a few students suffered whiplash—the remainder stared in shock and surprise at the figure in the doorway. Even Kazuki gaped at her in stupefaction, his attendance book slipping from his fingers and falling to the floor.

Tamahome nudged Tasuki and hissed in his ear. "Hey, it's that girl—"

Nuriko twisted around in his seat. "What girl?" he whispered.

"That one from the gym—" Tasuki replied. _So that's who "Chian, Mai" is? Hell of a coincidence…_

"What are you talking about?" Chiriko asked, confused. At thirteen, he was the youngest in their group of friends and still lived with his parents, so he hadn't heard the circumstances surrounding Tasuki's bruise. The redhead was satisfied to see a matching one on the girl's face.

"Tell you later," Nuriko mouthed.

Meanwhile, everyone else was still staring. After a minute or so of this, the object of their rapt gaze scowled, and stalked over to an empty seat in the back corner. Dumping her bag on the ground, she sent a scorching glare around the room. Kazuki, finally recovering from his shock, cleared his throat and began the lecture. Reluctantly everyone turned around again.

Mai slouched in her desk, in high bad temper. _It's all that old bitch's fault, _she groused, for the hundredth time. It wasn't even lunchtime yet. Because of her adopted grandmother's call that morning, Mai had been forced to attend every single one of her classes that day. Even this English one, which she had scrupulously avoided up 'til now—with good reason, she thought, listening to the teacher drone on and on. The old bat hadn't said exactly what she had wanted, but Mai strongly suspected it had something to do with her less than stellar attendance record. So, to avoid providing the irascible old biddy more ammunition, Mai had to actually attend each and every one of her classes today. She was most definitely _not _in a good mood.

It promptly got worse when Kazuki held her back after class to give her a long lecture on her absences and then saddled her what seemed an entire semester's worth of homework. She had been gone two weeks, not two months! Mai fought an immense desire to punch the bastard in the nose but held back and stomped off to her next class. Owing to Kazuki's little rant, she was late and subsequently got held back by the _next _teacher, making her late for her _next _class and so on. By noon she was murderous and would have gladly relieved the tiniest bit of her temper by ruthlessly gobbling her lunch except…she did not have a lunch. She had forgotten to pack one on the way out the house that morning. Neither did she have any money. God, she sounded like a baby; it wasn't like she hadn't gone hungry before—just last year she survived a week on grocery store food samples. But she wanted to eat _something…_

Oh, she was so beyond murderous at this point. At this point she was actively hallucinating a gleeful dismemberment of all her teachers, starting with Kazuki, and the bastard that had hunted her down so ruthlessly that she had to hide in this hell hole…Imagining him in her power, Mai actually began to drool…

Passersby wisely made wide circles around the tall young woman drooling on the sidewalk with a mad glaze over her eyes. Any who came closer noticed that her fingers twitched, as if longing to hold a weapon of some kind. Needless to say, not many came closer.

Nuriko, however, was not very close at all. "Hey, isn't that that girl from Kazuki's class?"

"What girl?" Tasuki looked in the direction of Nuriko's pointed finger. "Yeah, I guess. So what?"

"Hmm…c'mon, Fang-chan, let's ask if she wants to have lunch with us."

"What?" Too late, Tasuki tried to break the iron grip his friend had on his arm. For such a willowy looking figure, Nuriko had greatly disproportionate strength. "Let me go, you queer! I thought you wanted to have lunch with Hotohori!"

"Oh, he won't mind. Besides, Tamahome's got that lecture to go to, Chiriko's in the library, and Mits is eating with Shouka today. The more the merrier, right?"

"The hell it is!"

Nuriko wasn't listening to him anymore. "Hey! Mai, wasn't it?"

"Huh?" Broken out of her rather violent daydreams, the girl in question whipped around to see the rather odd sight of Nuriko dragging a kicking and yelling Tasuki behind him. Nuriko stopped just in front of her and smiled. "Hi. You're Mai, right?"

Mai narrowed her eyes. "Who wants to know?"

_Touchy one, eh? _Nuriko gave Mai a second look and mentally winced. Every fashionable nerve in his body was screaming—the girl had a hairstyle similar to Nuriko's, save that it was a great deal messier and those bangs itched for a trim. And the _clothes… _A pair of ripped, faded jeans that definitely had nothing in common with the latest style and a cotton tank that might have had a color, once upon a time. Still, Nuriko was curious about this girl and Nuriko was a very hard cat to kill indeed.

"I'm Nuriko and this," he hauled the protesting redhead up, "is Tasuki."

"We've met," Tasuki and Mai said at the same time. Realizing this, they glared at each other.

Nuriko blinked. "Okay…well, we were wondering," Tasuki sent Nuriko a Look, which his friend cheerfully ignored, "if you wanted to each lunch with us."

"Uh…"Mai blinked. Well, Mai was still a little paranoid about old "acquaintances" showing up (and given the state in which she had left things, that was understandable—though she was pretty sure that she hadn't been followed), the violet-haired…person (Mai couldn't decide whether this Nuriko was male or female) in front of her didn't seem to mean any harm. On the other hand, she wasn't too keen making nice-nice at the moment and particularly not with the annoying redhead next to Nuriko. Plus, she didn't have any money or food with her, and felt no need to embarrass herself.

Mai had barely opened her mouth when a multicolored blur came arcing down out of the sky and collided rather painfully with her head. Nuriko and Tasuki stared as Mai went down in a heap.

"What the fuck?" Mai demanded, sitting up and cursing. She rubbed her head and stared straight into the eyes of an adorable little odangoed girl. "Huh?"

"A NyanNyan?" Nuriko and Tasuki exclaimed together. The little girls were their dear university president's personal aides and a group of them followed her around everywhere. No one knew exactly where they came from or exactly _what _they were. Though they looked (and acted) like little primary school kids, the NyanNyans had power that belied their small form and were supernaturally cute. They also were unusually hardy; often you could tell where Taiitsukun was simply by tracing the flying NyanNyans. The little girls were geniuses at annoying their boss but never seemed the worse for wear no matter how many times they crashed through the roof. Chichiri thought it might be their hairstyle—Tamahome's girlfriend had a similar pair brain-obstructing buns (though much bigger) and she also seemed to survive a bizarre array of mishaps.

"What the fuck is a NyanNyan doing here?" Tasuki asked, looking around. Taiitsukun was nowhere in sight.

Below, Mai was asking a similar question. The NyanNyan smiled and said, "NyanNyan come to collect MaiMai!" The blue-haired girl shook a disapproving finger in Mai's face. "MaiMai is late to lunch meeting. Taiitsukun is not pleased."

"What…? Of all the—" Mai lifted the NyanNyan out of her lap and dumped her on the ground. "How the _hell _can I be fucking _late _if that old hag never even fucking told me _when _we were supposed to meet?" she demanded, standing up. "And why the fuck didn't she just call? I have a damn cell phone, she didn't have send _you _flying into my head!"

The NyanNyan shrugged, and a pink bubble began to form around her small form. She floated up until she was at eye level with Mai. "Taiitsukun does not tell NyanNyan these things. Taiitsukun tell NyanNyan to 'fetch' and NyanNyan do."

"Yeah, yeah," Mai muttered, retrieving her book bag from where it had gone flying. She looked over at Nuriko and Tasuki. "Guess I have other plans," she told them sourly. "See you…whenever." And then she was gone, running after the bobbing pink bubble.

Nuriko and Tasuki stood there for a couple seconds, blinking at the abrupt departure. "That was… interesting," Nuriko said finally. "Wonder what Taiitsukun wanted with her?"

Tasuki snorted. "Why should we care?"

Nuriko looked as if he was about to say something and thought better of it. "Never mind. C'mon, let's go see Hotohori."

* * *

Meian was high-strung. She tried to hide it, she really did, but there it was. She scared easily, was frequently prone to daydreams and a certifiable klutz in all matters not pertaining to medicine or cooking. Normally, she managed to keep this under control, if she was in an area comfortable and familiar to her. However, for the past two weeks she had been thrust in a decidedly unfamiliar environment, with a decidedly surly and uncommunicative housemate. It wasn't that she was unhappy here—on the contrary, the university's professors and facilities had long since proven that her choice of graduate school was a good one (even if it _had _been nudged forward by certain…incentives) and her housemate had been her best friend for five years prior (though Meian had still been unable to pry out of Mai her whereabouts after high school). But that didn't stop Meian from feeling a little nervous and uncomfortable… particularly because her previous college had been an all-female institution and now she attended a definitely co-ed school, living in a house neighboring another _full _of men…

All this had been simmering just below the surface, but it took the combined efforts of Meian falling on top of one of those very male neighbors, and the information that a teacher was springing a massive test on his students the next day to have it explode. Meian had come home, rushed straight to her room and feverishly started studying—only to completely lose it an hour later.

Now, when Meian's nervousness bubbled over, she usually did one of three things: wail, drink gallons of tea, or cook obsessively. She had wailed yesterday.

Meian was in the kitchen when Mai came home, washing her floury hands. Mai had told her that morning that she might be back late, so Meian hadn't worried when she had found the house empty this time. Meian heard her friend before she saw her—the banging of the front door and subsequent stomping was hard to miss. Mai generally moved the same way she acted: with loud, angry energy. It made the times she chose to move quietly all the more surprising.

This time, however, Meian thought that Mai's movements sounded a little angrier than usual, and went to see Mai stalking toward the stairs with a ferocious scowl on her face. At the foot of the steps she paused, sniffed the air and then pivoted to face the kitchen where she found Meian covered with dough and looking at her with a worried expression. This was not as strange as the time Mai had found her friend stuck in the washing machine because she had overbalanced and fallen in, but still sufficiently bizarre enough for Mai to ask, "What the hell are you doing?"

Meian blushed underneath the flour, and looked extremely embarrassed. "I was, umm, taking a break from studying for my anatomy test." She paused, looking self-conscious, then held out a plate. "Err…would you like one?"

Her friend looked at it. On the plate, there were cookies. In the shape of hearts. Not happy, round, Valentine hearts, _anatomically correct _hearts. With the details picked out in red icing. Mai looked around at the myriad other plates of baked goods and saw lungs, livers and brains all rendered in sugar and flour. It was as if someone had dissected hundreds of gingerbread men. Carefully, she plucked one of the offered sweets from the plate and bit into it. Then she took another. And another. And another…

"Thif if pwetty good," Mai said, around a mouthful of kidneys. She swallowed and wandered deeper into the kitchen, another plate catching her eye. Mai selected a sprinkled lung, looked at it carefully, then glanced back at Meian. "Anatomy test?"

She sweat-dropped. "Y-yes." She looked down. Mai decided not to comment that, if she could bake anatomically correct cookie renditions of human organs, she doubted she'd have much trouble with a test.

"So, um, how did the meeting with Taiitsukun go?" Meian asked.

Mai's scowl returned. "The old bat decided that she wasn't _satisfied _with my class performance. And here," and Mai tossed an envelope at Meian, who caught it with some difficulty, "that's money for groceries and shit. I'm going upstairs."

* * *

A few minutes later, Mai dumped the contents of her bookbag on top of her desk and glowered at the assorted textbooks, papers and pencils in hopes that if she glared at them enough they would go away. Needless to say, it did not work. The old hag had indeed been unsatisfied with her former ward's school record—she had been watching Mai more closely than the young woman had thought, and told her in no uncertain terms that Mai had better improve her grades and attendance record or else. Had it been anyone other than Taiitsukun, Mai would have summarily told them "up yours" but unfortunately the old woman had a strongest will of anyone she had ever met, even herself.

So now she had to actually _do _all the homework her teachers had assigned that day, and stared at the list incredulously. Essays, reports, questions, problems, analysis… Did they really expect her to be able to finish all this? What did they think she was, a homework machine? A small part of her commented that perhaps if she had been attending classes like she was _supposed _to, maybe she wouldn't have this problem.

_Shut up, _she told it, and with a final sour look at her books, she got to work.

* * *

After the calming effect of her organ cookies, Meian had managed to finish studying for her test and took a break partway through her other assignments to make dinner. Mai hadn't come down, so Meian came up, carrying a tray of food. Peering into Mai's bedroom, she was surprised to find her friend hard at work scribbling an essay. Meian hadn't seen Mai do _anything _remotely resembling homework in the entire time they had been here and had suspected that Mai was cutting classes as she had in high school, but evidently she was wrong.

Not trusting herself to balance the tray one-handedly while she knocked on the door, Meian thumped a foot against the frame. "Mai? I've got some dinner for you…"

"Huh?" The younger woman looked up. "Oh. Thanks." Mai stood up and, rubbing her hands (writer's cramp), took the food. Turning back after placing the tray on her desk, she caught Meian looking around her bedroom. Mai sighed and looked around herself, knowing exactly what Meian was thinking. Mai's room was of identical size and shape to Meian's own, though it looked much larger. Mostly this was because Mai had far fewer things. Save for the mess on her desk, the room was (even with the plants that Meian had placed on the balcony) extremely Spartan. There were no posters or pictures hanging on the walls, the bed (a futon, which Mai preferred) devoid of anything other than the needed pillows and blankets, and her clothes hung neatly in the half-open closet. The clothes in particular worried Meian, since there seemed entirely too few for the length of time Mai was to be staying here.

Meian's curiosity was so painfully obvious to watch; to her credit, she had refrained from asking Mai any more questions about those missing years but…well, Meian wasn't exactly the best at concealing her emotions. To tell the truth, Mai didn't really know _why _she didn't just tell Meian everything—except, as she said earlier, that she knew that her friend would not approve. Mai knew that her moral compass was considerably skewed off the normal for the population, but she hadn't done anything she had been _ashamed _of, exactly, in the time after high school. But she couldn't say that they were things that she wanted to boast about either. Meian, on the other hand, adhered to a rather more stringent set of moral standards.

But, well, Meian had been her best friend for years, had tolerated her for far longer than most anyone else Mai knew. And Mai didn't have many _friends_, much less _best _friends. So…what the hell. Throw her a bone.

"I moved out after graduation." Meian's head jerked up, surprised, but Mai ignored her and continued. "The old hag didn't like it and we had this big fucking row, but finally she said that since I was almost legal I might as well get out and take the damn burden of taking care of me off her shoulders. So I did. Drifted around a bit. Found an apartment, found a job." _Of sorts, _she added mentally, "I did okay, for a while. Then last year I started having…money problems."

"Money problems?" Meian echoed.

Mai nodded. _It _started _with the money, anyway. _"Yeah. At first I thought I could take care of it on my own, but the whole damn thing snowballed, and the stuff I _supposedly _owed kept getting bigger an' bigger 'til finally it was way too much and…things got bad. Really bad." She scowled, remembering. _Bastards. _"I had to ask for help. The old bag gave it to me, but the price…" She waved around the room. "Well, you know."

Well, that explained _some _things. "So…the reason you don't have—"

"All the stuff I brought here's from _her _house. All the rest of my shit went up with my apartment. I had to leave in kind of a, um, hurry." Mai squirmed at little. Fleeing from her own damn apartment let a cat with its tail on fire had _not _done wonders for her self-esteem. She looked over at the older woman, and decided that sharing time was over—or else they'd get into the other stuff, which Meian really didn't need to know. "Look, thanks for dinner," she said abruptly. "But I've um, got all this to do," she waved vaguely at her desk, "so…"

_So no, _Meian thought, _you haven't really told me a thing. _Exactly _what _kinds of money problems could force Mai, probably the most stubborn and bull-headed person she had ever known, to run away? But then she was probably lucky to get Mai to tell her as little as she had. So she said, "Okay. Just put the dishes in the sink when you're done, ok? And don't stay up too late."

Mai laughed at that. "Trying to be a doctor already?"

Meian smiled. "I've had plenty of practice," she admitted.

* * *

Tama-neko was a small, brown and white cat that occasionally gave the impression that he alone out of the whole world knew what was going on. Originally, he had been _Chichiri's _pet—Chichiri had found him in those years he had spent backpacking across the country—but now more accurately "belonged" to Mitsukake, the quiet medical student. And Mitsukake, like any good cat owner, knew his pet's habits and invariably left his bedroom window open. Tama-neko would sneak out of the house at night and return the next morning, usually with nothing but a desire to spend most the next twelve hours sleeping but occasionally with a small fish or (on one memorable instance) wearing a miniature version of Tamahome's girlfriend's school uniform. They hadn't wanted to ask where he had gotten it.

Tonight, however, Tama-neko didn't go very far—in fact, he only went to the next house. Slipping out the window crack, the little cat padded over to the stairs leading down outside the house (the regulation fire escape), across the yard, under the chain link and to the outside stairs of the neighboring house. Reaching the second floor there, he discovered the balcony door slightly ajar and wiggled inside. For a few minutes he padded around the room, sniffing curiously at several objects and then spun around to face the bed. Bunching his muscles, the feline jumped up and looked down at the bed's occupant. He recognized her as a female member of his human's species and supposed she would be considered pretty by their standards. In any case she was asleep. Tama-neko yawned and stretched before padding his way over to the warm pillow.

Meian woke up the next morning, feeling the early morning sunlight on her face. Content in the knowledge that today was a Saturday and therefore she did not have to wake up early, Meian rolled over and snuggled deeper into her blankets. That is, she meant to until she was distracted by the distinctly strange impression of a rather small, warm object on the pillow next to her. Opening her eyes in confusion, she stared straight into the little white face, which yawned hugely and said, "Meow."

"KYAAAA!" Meian's limbs flailed around wildly and, tangling herself in her sheets, fell with a rather loud thump on the floor. The cat, wondering why this human seemed to be convulsing, padded over to the edge and looked down.

"Meow?"

"Ow…" Meian winced and sat up slowly, rubbing her back. She looked at the cat. "Don't scare me like that!" she told it.

It sat primly on the bed and said nothing.

Meian sighed and knelt by the bed. Holding out a hand, she let it sniff her fingers first before gently scratching the small skull. When it purred, she took it carefully into her lap. Meian liked cats—better than dogs, in fact, as loud barks made her nervous. The reason she had fallen out of bed was that, for one wild moment, she had somehow mistaken the little feline for the blue-haired young man she had fallen on a couple of days ago. There was still some sort of resemblances about the face, though they really didn't look anything alike.

"Where did you come from, kitty?" she murmured, and scratching under its chin, lifted its head so she could see the little tag hanging around its neck. She read the address. "You live next door?" she asked it surprise.

"Meow."

She sighed. "I guess I'd better take you back then," and place it gently on the floor. It hopped up onto her desk chair as she got dressed.

* * *

Chichiri hummed a strange little song under his breath as he poured the pancake mix into the pan. It seemed to consist entirely of the syllables "no da." Chichiri's odd habit of appending the same sounds to end of most of his sentences was not a bizarre little affectation, as some had assumed, but in fact a legitimate accent from his hometown. Located in a somewhat remote part of the country, its inhabitants were the descendents of wanderers who immigrated from China centuries ago. Originally, his ancestors had been monks of some sort but later found procreation to be more to their liking than meditation. The "no da" appellation remained when their religious aspirations did not.

Chichiri deftly flipped the pancake and heard the satisfying sizzle as the uncooked side landed face down. Actually, it wasn't his turn to cook breakfast today-the weekends he usually had off, while the rest of the house's inhabitants either cooked or scavenged for themselves. Usually it was the latter, though it wasn't as if the rest of them didn't know how to cook. Nuriko, in fact, had quite a bit of culinary expertise that stretched even to the mixing of alcohol drinks, and Tamahome, whose mother had died young, had had plenty of practice cooking for his many younger siblings and father. Neither of which were in the house at the moment, however: Nuriko was sleeping over at his sister Kourin's dorm, and Tamahome had gone home for the weekend (his family lived nearby). Of the remainder, Mitsukake only did fish and Tasuki, despite having five older sisters, could not keep from burning everything he made. Thus, Chichiri had elected to cook.

He was just sliding the last flapjacks onto a plate when the doorbell rang. Wondering who it might be, he washed his hands in the sink and went to answer the door. Opening it, he stared down into a pair of familiar green eyes.

"Oh, good morning…Meian-san, wasn't it no da?"

"Y-yes, um, good morning." Meian felt distinctly stupid. For some strange reason she had realized that put the fact that this man lived next door meant that there would be a high probability that he would be answering the door when it rang. _This…is stupid, _Meian thought, trying to get her body to move. _You're living here, they're living here, it only makes sense that you would actually have to see one of them at some point. So you fell on him. So your undergrad had been at an all-female, single sex institution. You are 21 years old. You can drink. You can vote. There is no reason in the world that the sight of a male member of your species—wearing an apron, why is he wearing an apron—should freeze you to the ground. _

Chichiri blinked. She was just standing there, not saying anything. He would have thought she had inexplicably frozen to the sidewalk if there hadn't been a faint trace of panic on her face. _Panic? Panic no da? Why would she be panicking? _He fought the urge to check if horns had started growing out of his forehead. It wasn't as if he had abnormally pointy canines like Tasuki… "Can I help you with something no da?"

_You have a mission! _Meian's inner voice shouted. Another part of her vaguely felt the urge to shout "_Ninmu Ryokai" _and was promptly squashed as annoyingly irrelevant. She got her jaws to work and thrust her hands out. "Your, um, cat."

He blinked. "My…oh, Tama-neko no da," he said. At his name, the little cat squirmed free of Meian's grasp and leapt for Chichiri's shoulder, where it promptly seated itself and began licking a paw. "Actually," Chichiri said, petting it, "Tama-neko isn't mine. He's Mitsukake's no da."

"What?" Meian looked confused. "B-but…d-did I read the tag wrong? I thought—"

Chichiri shook his head. "No, you read it right."

She was getting _really _confused now. "I don't—"

"Mitsukake lives here too no da," Chichiri explained.

"Oh." Of course. _Of course. _Meian felt her cheeks heat. She herself had a housemate, and their place wasn't even half the size of this one.

Chichiri watched the pinking Meian with interest, and a little bit of worry. He thought that if she looked any more embarrassed, she would end up in a puddle on the sidewalk. Bizarre image, that… _Is it something I'm doing no da? Why is she so nervous? _It was almost like watching Tasuki's emotions in reverse—only, Meian was a great deal prettier than his friend.

"Um, okay, well, um, I'll be just…" She waved a hand vaguely behind her. "Just um, going now…"

"Would you like to have some pancakes no da?"

"Eh?" Meian blinked, her cheeks stopping their progress towards crimson in her surprise. "What?"

"Would you like some pancakes?" Chichiri asked again. "I just made some no da. Unless you had breakfast already?"

"Er…" In all actuality, Meian had _not_ had breakfast. And she did like pancakes. "Um, okay. I-I mean, I haven't had breakfast and would like some. Pancakes, I mean."

Chichiri led the way inside. Somehow she made her body move and follow him. Some of the stiffness left as she started looking around; the place actually looked quite a bit like her own save that it was significantly bigger. And somehow, indefinably _male_. She made it to the kitchen; Chichiri waved her to a stool at the center island to sit, and she did so, silently watching him as he pulled out another plate and began forking and a few of the pancakes on it. He looked a little funny in that apron—but it suited him somehow. Just as the improbable combination of brown eyes and pale blue hair did. Her nerves still humming a little with nervous energy, she still had to admit that her neighbor was pretty darn good looking—not gorgeous like whatever new star the media flashed up, but comfortably so. Like, well, an impossibly good-looking neighbor. Eh, that didn't really make much sense…not that that was her real forte…

"Meian-san?" Chichiri waved the plate under the young woman's nose. Her eyes seemed to have gone strangely vague for some reason…

"What?" Meian jumped, abruptly brought back down to earth. She flushed and got up to take the plate of pancakes that was offered, hoping she didn't look too much like a robot. Then she managed to put it down on the table and sit without any of her usual klutziness.

_Yes! I made it! One point!_

Meian reflected that it was probably not a good thing to be assigning every successful action points. Or the fact that success was so rare that she could assign points. Or that she was still having this conversation and not eating.

She grabbed the syrup bottle and upended it.

Blorp.

_Gyahh!_

She quickly righted the bottle again and pushed it away before more syrup poured on her pancakes. As it was, they were practically swimming in it. She wondered if he would notice if she dropped her face into her breakfast at the pure embarrassment of being her. Probably. It was not normal behavior.

"How does it taste no da?"

She nearly fell out of her chair at the sudden question, but luckily Chichiri was too busy sitting down to notice. She pasted a smile on her face. "V-very good, Chichiri-san." She hurriedly cut off a piece and took a bite before he could notice that she hadn't touched it. It _was_ good, even with all the syrup.

Across from the table, the Chichiri sweat-dropped at all the syrup the young woman had poured on her pancakes. _Does she like it that much no da? But then, Tamahome's girlfriend does the same thing. Actually, Miaka eats a lot of everything…_

She noticed him staring and her cheeks turned red. "I-I like syrup," she stammered.

"I guess so no da," he said. She turned even redder and went back to eating. Chichiri realized that he hadn't touched his food yet either and began. They ate in a silence that quickly became awkward when ran out of food to concentrate on.

"So, um, where is Mitsukake-san? Is he still asleep or—"

"Mitsukake no da? He should still be asleep, like everyone else."

"Everyone else?" she echoed.

He nodded. "Besides us, there are…five others that also live here." He looked thoughtful. "Tamahome and Nuriko are spending the weekend somewhere else, but the rest are asleep no da. Except Tasuki; he goes out running in the mornings. Usually he's back by now but he's could be at the school gym or dojo no da."

Meian frowned. "Dojo?"

"To practice no da," Chichiri explained. "He's a martial artist."

"Oh." She paused. "Mai knows martial arts too…"

"Mai no da?"

"Yes…do you remember her?" Meian asked. "I think I introduced you two before…? A couple days ago?"

An image of a rather curt and brusque young woman came to mind. "Oh, her no da."

* * *

Autumn was coming, so when Mai woke up at six to start her morning routine, her breath made faint puffs in the air. Meian was still asleep, so Mai ate her breakfast alone before heading out.

When Meian needed to blow off some steam, she wailed, drank copious pots of tea, or did some ballistic cooking. When Mai needed to do so, she exercised or looked for something to beat up. And that, basically, summed up the difference in their personalities. It was habit she had developed at a young age—when little Mai kept coming home covered in blood and bruises, her father had begun to train her in the martial arts in an attempt to discipline his intemperate daughter. And the exercise did help somewhat. Not as much as actually maiming of the objects of her ire would, however, and as far as controlling her temper went, her father failed miserably. Mai only learned more effective ways of fighting.

Unfortunately, there was a significant dearth of things to maul on the campus (at least, things that she could maul without fear of her grandmother descending with all her wrath) so Mai had to exercise. Ultimately not as satisfying as some judiciously wanton destruction, but it would have to do. She had been doing rather more than usual lately, in an attempt to work off some of her temper (which explains all those run-in's with that red-headed annoyance at the gym). She was up to about running about four miles a day, everyday, usually very early in the morning. And as much as she disliked this place, Mai had to admit that suburbia's clean air and clear sidewalks beat the city's smog filled air and litter strewn streets any day.

Turning back, Mai continued to jog her way back to the house, not really looking where she was going. She turned the corner…

You can guess what happened next, right?

"Ow!" Mai ran straight into someone and went falling back on her ass. A mental slew of profanities ran through her head; she started to get up, rubbing her bottom…and saw whom she ran into.

Anyone else might have found the situation funny—two people frozen on the sidewalk, one bending down to offer a hand, the other starting to stand up—but to the parties involved it was anything but.

"You!" they both shouted at the same time.

Mai shot to her feet. "Why don't you watch where you're going next time, idiot!" she snapped.

Tasuki dropped the hand he had been offering and glared straight back. "_Me _watch where _I'm _going? _You're _the one who ran into _me_!"

"The hell I did!"

Tasuki threw up his hands. "It's too fucking early in the damn morning to be dealing with this. What the hell are you doing up anyway?"

"Same thing as you, apparently," Mai retorted. Tasuki was dressed in running clothes, just like her. "Goddammit, can't I go _anywhere _on this fucking campus without running into you?"

Tasuki made a sound of disgust and turned around. He didn't need to take this kind of abuse. After a few minutes, however, he became aware of another person running alongside of him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Mai shot back.

"Stop following me!"

"I'm not! _You're _following _me_!"

The arguing continued as each of them proceeded to alternate increasing the pace, in an attempt to lose the other. Only problem was, they seemed to be going in the same direction. Almost fifteen minutes later they were still at it, running flat out as every move one made was mirrored by the other.

"What…are…you," Tasuki gasped. "Some kind…of…stalker?"

"You…wish," Mai returned, equally out of breath. Another ten minutes passed before Tasuki finally stopped and whirled around to face (from his point of view) his annoying tail.

"All right," he said, chest heaving, "You've had your fun. Now get lost!"

"What?" Mai glared up at her through her bangs. She had been bent over, resting her hands on her knees; now she straightened up. "For the last time, I ain't following you! I _have _to fucking go this way to get back!"

Tasuki snorted. "Yeah right. Unless you live right fucking _next door, _there's no way you'd have to follow me _all _the way here. I'd think I'd _know _if an annoying bitch like you was my neighbor."

Mai swelled. If she was any angrier, flames would have been shooting out of her head and Tasuki would have been incinerated on the spot. "You-!" she sputtered. "You are such a—"

Then Tasuki said it. "Go _home, _little girl."

Mai exploded, in all senses save the literal. Profanities spouted out of her mouth like water from a particularly dirty fountain. She called him every possible name, cursed him in every possible way that she could think of—and Mai could think of quite a bit. In fact, her imagination was too much for just one language; once she had exhausted every obscene combination in Japanese, she started over in what sounded like Chinese. Then, amazingly, English. If he hadn't been the target, Tasuki would have been rather impressed.

"If you're going to insult me," he bellowed finally, "pick one language and stick with it!"

To which Mai reacted by pausing, taking a deep breath, and then proceeding to curse him in multiple languages, simultaneously (Japlish, Englese, anyone?).

Tasuki finally had to clap his hands over his ears. Yee gods, but could that woman scream. She was even louder than his sister Aidou after she discovered he had replaced her face cream with Elmer's glue.

* * *

_Topics, _Meian thought frantically, in the quiet kitchen, _think of topics… _"S-so, um, what do you study?"

Chichiri looked up. "Actually, I'm not in college no da. I never went—well, not _officially, _no da." At Meian's puzzled look, he went on to explain.

Chichiri's parents died when he was in high school, and thus there was no one to object when he decided not to go on to college (the decision came as a result of a rather tangled string of events his senior year in high school). He spend the greater part of the next five years wandering around the country; the longest he ever spend in one place was a little over two years working as Taiitsukun's personal assistant a few years before she retired—

"Something wrong no da?" Chichiri asked.

Meian, who had looked startled at the mention of Taiitsukun's name, shook her head and motioned him to go on.

Taiitsukun had hired him as a result of encounter involving a sugar-crazed Nyan Nyan, but apparently she was known for such bizarre whims. He had heard that she had adopted an orphan off the streets of Hong-Kong in a similar fashion, though he had never met the girl. However, as strange as the job was, it had its perks—the pay was good and the duties interesting if often strange. For example, he had to attend classes at her University as an undercover evaluator of the education quality, which is what he meant by not attending college _officially _(there was no record of him actually enrolled, though he graduated with a degree anyway).It was actually during that time he was working for her that he met Hotohori, the son of one of Taiitsukun's top execs, and Nuriko, Hotohori's best friend.

"When I decided I didn't want to work for her anymore, Taiitsukun offered me this job managing the house no da," Chichiri finished. He looked thoughtful. "I never knew how she found out though…"

"So did you know all of them beforehand?" Meian asked. "I mean," she waved her hands around vaguely, "were you friends with everyone who lives here—"

He shook his head. "Not Mitsukake or Tamahome no da. Or Chiriko, but he doesn't live here. I didn't meet them until last year. I _did _know Tasuki though, no da. Actually I met him first, since I spent the first winter after my graduation near his hometown." That was when Tasuki was still involved in gangs, though Chichiri didn't tell her that. They had actually met when Tasuki and some other middle school thugs had tried to mug the newcomer. However, Chichiri was a great deal less harmless than his mild-mannered exterior suggested and a few well-placed whacks with his heirloom monk staff took care of things. In the strange way of males, this mild beating led to a friendship.

Chichiri took another sip of orange juice. "What about you no da? Did you know—"

"Did I know Mai before?" Meian finished. She nodded. "We, um, met in middle school, actually." She looked a little rueful. "I suppose it was because we had more in common with each other than anyone else…" Both Meian's parents were doctors—and activists, which meant that she spent the first thirteen years of her life being dragged from one impoverished nation to another as her parents provided much needed medical help. While this did wonders for her cultural broadening and future career choice of medicine, it severely messed up the rest of her education. When they eventually returned to Japan, Meian was abruptly thrust into eighth grade and promptly miserable; she was used to sickly patients but painfully shy around her own peers, most of whom already belonged to tight-knit circles. One grade lower, Mai was in a similar position—

Chichiri frowned. "She's only a year younger than you no da?" Odd, he had thought her about Tasuki's or Tamahome's age.

Meian shook her head. "No, she's about two or three years younger." She paused, trying to think how to put this. "Mai also had, um, _gaps _in her education, but her guardian thought the best thing to do was to place her high and tutor the deficit away." Meian sweat-dropped; no wonder Mai had been so irritable. "She was new, like me, so we were sort of, um, thrown together. I haven't seen her since high school, though, so it's kind of nice that we're at the same school now—"

"Oh, good morning."

Meian jumped and nearly fell out of her chair at the new voice—then did the same thing when she saw who was speaking. Wearing silk pajamas and his normally sleek brown hair gorgeously disheveled, any other girl would have loved to see Hotohori just then. Not even in the morning did Hotohori's aristocratically handsome features look anything less than perfect. Chichiri, on the other hand, felt obscurely annoyed at the interruption but recovered his manners. "Hotohori, this is Meian no da. Meian, this is Hotohori. He also lives here no da."

"A pleasure to meet you," Hotohori said smoothly.

"N-nice to meet you," Meian stammered, feeling her face burn. She had thought Chichiri was good-looking but Hotohori was on an entirely different plane. Was _everyone _in this house model-worthy…?

Hotohori was just about to say something else when an explosion of noise came from outside and nearly burst their eardrums. This time, Meian _did _fall out of her chair.

"Are you okay no da?" Chichiri asked, sweat-dropping and coming over to help. _I always thought that was just a figure of speech no da…_

"I-I'm f-fine," she said, but her face was white. "Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no…"she muttered and rushed for the door. She knew that voice…

Wrenching the door open, sure enough there was Mai standing on the sidewalk, swearing in three languages at a wild looking redhead. Meian turned even redder; as a result of living in all those foreign countries, she was the only one around who knew _exactly _what Mai was saying. But even if he _didn't _understand, the redhead was giving as good as he got. Add the window's banging open all around them as people yelled for them to be quiet, and it was an _awful _din.

Meian stumbled across the street and lunged for Mai's arm. "Mai!"

The grab nearly knocked her over and Mai lurched sideways for a second, enough that she was forced to break off whatever profanity she had been uttering. "What?" she snapped, before seeing who it was. "What the-? Meian?"

"Mai, what are you doing?"

"Meian, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Hey, pay attention to me when I'm insulting you!" the redhead yelled. This close, Meian noted that he had oddly pointed canines.

Mai told him to do something that was not anatomically possible.

"Mai!" Meian's gasp was lost in the volume of his response. Mai flipped him the finger and things looked like they were going to escalate again when Chichiri grabbed onto the redhead's arm.

"Tasuki, what are you doing no da?"

His reply was so similar to Mai's that it was a little amusing—except that, given the circumstances, it wasn't. Mai frowned and looked at Chichiri. "Who the hell are you?"

_I need tea, _Meian thought. Her fingers itched for a baking spatula. "Mai…this is Chichiri. You've _met _him before, remember? He lives next door?"

"I don't—" Mai began and then stopped. "Oh," she said grudgingly, "him. So how does _he_," she jabbed at finger at Chichiri, "know _him?_" She jabbed the finger at redhead.

Chichiri answered this one. "We live in the same house no da. That one," and he waved a hand over at the aforementioned house behind them. Hotohori was still standing at the front door, looking aristocratically amused in the way only he could. "Er…that's Hotohori no da," Chichiri explained. "He also lives there."

"Pleased to meet you," Hotohori greeted, with a distinct feeling of déjà vu. _Why does she seem familiar?_

"Eh?" Tasuki and Mai said at the same time, before glaring at each other in annoyance.

"You all live together?" Mai said incredulously. "How many of you _are_ there?"

Chichiri wished she wouldn't say 'you' like they were cockroaches, but decided it wasn't best to mention in the circumstances. "Six, actually. No da."

"_Six—_"

"Wait, you mean we're fucking _neighbors?_" Tasuki demanded. He whipped around to stare at Mai. "You _weren't _just following me?"

Mai threw up her hands. "That's what I've been fucking _telling _you, asshole! But would you listen to me, _nooo—"_

Tasuki was about to retort to that when Meian suddenly stepped in between them, smiling so determinedly that he thought her face might crack. "It's been very nice to meet you, Tasuki-san," she said, with only the barest hint of a stammer, "but I think that we should go now." And then she proceeded to drag the much taller woman off with surprising force. The three men watched as they rounded the corner and heard their front door slam after they got inside. Tasuki stared at Chichiri.

"That bitch _lives _next door?"

"Hey, what's going on?" They looked up to see Nuriko walking toward them, carrying his sleeping bag over one shoulder. "What are you guys doing outside?"

To Nuriko's puzzlement, Tasuki made a sound of disgust and stomped back inside the house. Chichiri sighed and followed. Hotohori shook his head and mouthed "Tell you later" at his friend.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: *checks legal document* Nope, still don't own it.

**Chapter 3**

September passed and October came; as the season turned toward fall, everything seemed to have settled down to the usual. At the two houses, the inhabitants developed their own routines and nothing much happened—save one incident. Tamahome, taking revenge for that leering cardboard cutout (which he had long since burned), ambushed a sleeping Tasuki. After dying his "friend's" hair black, shaving off his eyebrows and covering his face with whipped cream, Tamahome then took numerous photos of his victim and sent them off to every person he knew. Tasuki, upon wakening, screamed murder and chased Tamahome down the street, until Nuriko finally picked both of them up and bashed them together until they were too dizzy and aching to fight.

Next door, Meian eventually managed her stress levels until she wasn't drinking more than a gallon of tea a day and not baking everything in sight. By the end of the month, they could see the kitchen counter again. Some of that was helped by the fact that Meian, still feeling bad about the early morning shout-out between her friend and Tasuki, packed a whole bunch of cookies in a basket and delivered it next door with much blushing and stammering apologies. She was such an emotively repentant sight that even Tasuki finally forgave Mai (by proxy) out of sheer embarrassment. They liked her cookies so much that Meian ended up bringing over more batches and became relatively neighborly with the rest of the house. Especially Chichiri, who had met her first.

Mai, on the other hand, stayed away. Given her prickly personality, perhaps that was for the best. As Nuriko, Tamahome and Chiriko were her classmates, they sometimes saw each other but no one tried very hard to make friends. Not even Nuriko, generally the most sociable of the bunch, made any further attempts after it became quite clear that Mai wanted nothing more than to be left alone (the death glares she sent whenever anyone tried to approach were a major clue). To be fair, though, she treated _everyone _the same way, and stories about her… _extreme _responses to flirting and come-ons by other male students soon made the rounds. But at least neither she nor Tasuki had any more profanity laced shouting matches—after a few more abrasive encounters, she didn't speak to him, he didn't speak to her, and they engaged in mutual feigned ignorance when they passed in the class halls or elsewhere.

* * *

Despite it being a little stereotypical of a child genius, Chiriko liked the library. More specifically, he liked _a _library in particular: the Shijentensho Library of Liberal Arts and Literature. And, since he had to often had to wait for his parents to pick him up at the end of the day (since he, unfortunately, was too young to live on campus), he often passed the time amid the books. One day at the beginning of November, Chiriko was sitting down to do just that when the building doors slammed open. Everyone inside jumped and the librarian lifting an admonishing finger in a hissed "shh!" The newcomer shot her an annoyed look but took exaggerated care in making the rest of her movements quiet. Chiriko recognized her as that Mai girl that his friend Tasuki disliked so much. To tell the truth, she intimidated him much the same way Tasuki did when they first met…though Chiriko would never say that within his redheaded friend's hearing distance.

Mai, however, didn't offer any signs of recognition when she passed him on her way to the back of the library. Curious, Chiriko picked up his book and followed her surreptitiously. Intent on her destination, she slipped inside one of the private reading rooms (usually designated for study groups) and didn't notice her trailer. Chiriko hurriedly ducked behind a bookcase when he saw who had been waiting for Mai.

What was Taiitsukun doing here?

Edging closer so he could hear from the crack in the door, the sound of a chair scraping back and Mai falling gracelessly into it filtered outside.

"I assume that was you who banged the door open," came Taiitsukun's scratchy crone voice.

"That was the wind," Mai retorted. "Can we get this over with? I haven't done _anything _this month, stayed out of trouble and whatever—"

"That's a lie." Chiriko heard a rustling of paper; it sounded like Taiitsukun had opened a folder. "I have a complaint right here stating that you showed 'inappropriate behavior' and 'extreme disrespect' toward a teacher."

Mai sighed noisily. "It was that bastard Kazuki, wasn't it—"

"Kazuki-_sensei._"

"Fine, Kazuki-sensei. Look, that complaint is a bucket of horseshit. That asshole—"

"If you call him that, I can see why he complained," Taiitsukun commented dryly.

"Would you stop interrupting me and let me explain?"

"Go right ahead."

Kasuki had a nut against Mai since day one (actually it wasn't until day fourteen that she showed up in class, thereby the nut) and her behavior didn't help any. She clearly didn't enjoy the class and often yawned through lectures. Actually her actions weren't any different than some of her classmates, but Kazuki liked to place his podium right next to the door. That way he could stop anyone who tried to leave before his lecture was done, even if the bell had rung. Mai, unfortunately, always sat in the seat nearest to the door so she could leave the quickest and thus was directly in the professor's line of sight. Soon Kazuki had singled out this most obvious "troublemaker" for a daily barrage of questions, making snide remarks and smug faces when she couldn't answer.

About a week ago, Chiriko remembered Kasuki doing just that when Mai muttered something unintelligible under her breath. Kazuki demanded that she repeat and she did so with much annoyance. However, the phrase (that Chiriko recognized as English) was incomprehensible to Kazuki's ears and he told her to repeat it again. Upon realizing that this man, who wanted so badly to be an English professor in fact rather that just in subject, wasn't even fluent in the language, a truly wicked grin crossed Mai's face and she began uttering a string of rapid-fire phrases. Eventually Kazuki realized that she was insulting him and began shouting at her to stop—which, of course, Mai ignored and simply increased her volume. They were still at it when the bell rang and the rest of the class sneaked out.

"What the hell do you think you're doing anyway," Mai was saying, "hiring an English teacher who doesn't even speak English?"

"My hiring procedures don't concern you," Taiitsukun snapped. "Kazuki-sensei also says that you threatened him with a dagger."

"What?" Chiriko heard the sound of a chair scraping back. "Why that—"

"Please. We're in a _library_."

"That bastard," Mai continued in a quieter tone. "I did _not _threaten him." Pause. "And it _wasn't _a dagger. It was a pocket knife." Another pause. "What? Don't look at me like that. It wasn't like I was going to kill someone, and my _father _gave it to me. Anyway, there are plenty of other nonviolent uses for a knife. Besides, I lost all my other stuff, remember? I don't feel safe without it and you can't tell me that a _college _campus is crime-free."

"Let me see it."

There was a rustle of cloth and then a clunk on the table.

"What the hell is he thinking? I'm not some stupid medieval-renaissance freak. Besides, daggers are longer and wider than this. _This _isn't even three inches long."

"Would that everyone could be so well-versed in weaponry schematics," Taiitsukun commented dryly. "If you weren't threatening him with it, what were you doing?"

"Sharpening a pencil. Most of the classes around here have shitty sharpeners; what else was I supposed to do?"

"I take it that you were _sharpening _this pencil in a very _pointed _attitude then."

"Fine. Don't believe me, believe some stupid, stuck-up, wannabe Brit asshole—"

"Mai, you are a young person uncommonly attracted to edged weapons and violence. That's why you're _here, _remember?"

"Oh yeah, just throw that in my face again. Why can't you ever just help anyone out? Out of fucking Good Samaritanism. _Nooo, _there's always gotta be some sort of goddamn string attached, even with your damn granddaughter—"

* * *

At the lunch table the next day, Tasuki sputtered and spit out his coke when Chiriko related the story. "The hell? _Granddaughter?_"

Hotohori was also surprised. "Are you certain?"

The little genius nodded. "That's what I heard."

Ignoring the commotion further down as Tamahome, who had been sitting across from Tasuki, sought revenge for the coke in his hair, Nuriko looked thoughtful. "Actually, didn't we hear about Taiitsukun adopting some orphan a few years back? Hotohori-sama?"

"Oh, that's right…" The bishonen leaned back. "I remember Father talking about it; the whole company was in an uproar about the news." He ran a hand through his silky hair, causing a girl a few tables over to sigh and faint. Ignoring the buzz as her friends gathered around, he continued. "_That _explains why she looked familiar. I must have seen her at a company party…"

Nuriko looked over at Chichiri, who was also meeting them for lunch. "Didn't you used to work for Taiitsukun? And you're pretty cozy with her housemate. Did you know?"

Chichiri, a little miffed by the comment on his relations with Meian, shook his head. "No, na no da. I _did _know that Taiitsukun had a ward of some kind, but I never met her. I got the feeling they didn't get along together too well, no da," he added, sweat-dropping.

"What? Why not?"

Chichiri looked at Nuriko with an expression of she's-an-irascible-old-biddy when Hotohori answered. "No, I recall hearing about that as well. Apparently the girl hated formal events and rarely ever could be forced to go to one. I also heard that she often got in trouble at school: sneaking out, cutting classes and that sort of thing."

"You only heard?" Chiriko questioned. "Didn't you go to the same school?"

Nuriko and Hotohori shook their heads. "_We _did," Nuriko said, "but not her."

"She was sent to a public institution," Hotohori finished. "Nuriko and I were enrolled at a private school."

Tasuki finished Tamahome by stuffing his turquoise head into his paper lunch bag. "Hey, Chiriko! So what happened after you heard that?"

The boy shrugged. "They just argued some more and then both of them left."

* * *

Meian arrived home that day with nothing more on her mind than sleep. She had stayed up late the night before studying for a quiz and consequently slept through her alarm clock the next day. Rushing out of the house, she forgot to eat breakfast, and went through most of the day in a sleep-deprived sort of fog. The thought of her bed uppermost in her mind, she nearly ran into Mai coming down the stairs. Her friend grabbed her shoulders and steadied them before Meian could fall.

"God, you look like shit," Mai told her.

_Aren't you sweet, _Meian thought, the sarcasm a sure sign of her fatigue. She was too tired to say it out loud though. "Sleep," she mumbled, "nap." And she tried to push her way past Mai.

"Oh no, wait a minute." Mai held her back. "You can't go to sleep yet."

"What? Why not?" Meian thought she sounded like a little child but didn't much care.

"You'd want to take a shower first; Taiitsukun's coming for dinner."

"What?" Meian said again, but this time in a slightly more alert tone. "She's coming for dinner? _Tonight?_"

"Yeah." Mai made a face. "Damned hag showed up in the mirror to tell me and nearly killed me. I _hate _it when she does that." Scrying could be done in nearly anything—Taiitsukun, as someone with an immense magical Gift, knew that but her particular fetish was with mirrors. She had mastered the medium so well that she could use one of her specially modified mirrors to interface with nearly any other in existence. Mai used to go around covering all her mirrors so that she couldn't be spied on. "She said she's bringing food though, so we don't have to worry about that. But you might want to freshen up or something first."

_Freshen up? _Meian thought, looking at her friend. Mai's hair was still damp from her own shower, and done in a different style than usual: instead of one tangled plait with her bangs flopping in a mess over her face, all her hair had been pulled back, braided, then wrapped tightly around her head. Besides the slightly neater style, however, Mai was actually dressed even _more _carelessly than usual in a ratty pair of old jeans and a worn sweatshirt with holes in it. Meian knew she did it precisely to annoy their visitor.

The shower revived Meian's spirits a little, but she was still glad for the hot mug Mai handed her. Rubbing the towel over her damp hair with one hand, she sipped the liquid and was rather less glad upon discovery of its identity as _coffee, _rather than her preferred tea. Mai, however, refused to take it back and pushed the cup back toward her.

"Drink," she ordered. "You're about to pass out in the middle of the kitchen. And one cup isn't about to kill you," she added, pre-empting the lecture on the detriments of caffeine that had started to form on Meian's tongue. Meian subsided and obeyed.

"Why did Taiitsukun suddenly decide to visit?"

Mai shrugged as she leaned back against the counter and sipped her own mug of coffee. "I asked her the same thing and she said: 'Do I have to have a reason?' She probably just wants to see how we're doing."

"Oh. That's kind of nice of her."

"You would say that."

"Why do you always have to think the worst of people?" Meian demanded, a little exasperated.

"Why do you always have to think the best?" Mai returned, but without much heat. It was an old argument.

The doorbell rang. "I bet that's her," Mai said, and went to answer it.

* * *

"Hey, what's Taiitsukun's car doing outside?" Tasuki asked, letting the door slam shut behind him. He had gone to get pizza for dinner and held the boxes in his hands.

"Huh? Her car's outside?" Nuriko looked up from where he was playing a video game with Tamahome. Hotohori was sitting on the couch behind them, reading a book.

"Yeah, didn't you see it?" Balancing the boxes in one hand, Tasuki pulled off his leather jacket with the other and carelessly tossed it at the coat rack. "It's got some of those damn NyanNyans bouncing around the backseat," he continued, putting the pizza on the kitchen table. Nuriko and Tamahome ran for the front door to go look. Hotohori, also curious, trailed in the rear.

"Hey, you're right," Tamahome said. "What's she doing here?"

"That's what I was asking _you_!" Tasuki said, a little annoyed.

"What's going on, no da?" Chichiri asked, emerging from his room. He had been taking a nap. Mitsukake, also attracted by the noise, descended from the upstairs.

"Taiitsukun's car's parked outside," Nuriko told them.

"Taiitsukun? Is she coming here no da?" Chichiri asked, a little alarmed.

"No, no, she's parked next door."

"Oh." Still a little puzzled, he wedged his way to through to see for himself. Tamahome, edged back to let him through and went to the kitchen where Tasuki had already started on the pizza.

"Hey, these are cold!"

The redhead glared at him. "Well, I had to carry them on the back of my bike. I don't have a _car._" When Tamahome still looked disgruntled, Tasuki snorted. "If you're going to be a big baby about it…" He whipped out a large metal fan.

"Huh? What—wait!" Tamahome recognized the implement too late; it was Tasuki's beloved tessen, a old family heirloom whose equally old fire-spell still worked.

"Rekka Shien!"

"Agh! You did that on purpose, you jerk!"

"Did not! It's your fault that you got in the way."

"Why you—"

Quite suddenly, it became too loud to think; an argument even louder than theirs had exploded outside. It was hard to make out the words—neither party was very happy with the other or willing to compromise on anything. Mainly it was two streams of loosely connected words, spouted off at high speed and full volume. Tasuki and (crispy) Tamahome looked at each other then, argument forgotten, joined the others at the door. Actually, by now everyone was squeezed onto the front steps and staring over at their neighbor's house. After a few more minutes, the shouting abruptly cut off and the front door banged open. The distinct figure of Taiitsukun, on her trademark hoverchair, came floating out.

"I don't have to listen to this," she declared in her most crotchety old hag voice.

They saw Mai emerge from the house as well and lean against the doorjamb. "Then don't," she snapped, crossing her arms. They glared at each other for a few moments more before Taiitsukun gave an annoyed huff and spun around. She disappeared inside her car. Mai watched it speed off before reentering the house and slamming the door behind her.

* * *

It was the end of classes a few days later, and Mai emerged from the campus supply store with her new backpack. Being somewhat of a miser by nature, Mai had hardly spent any of the money Taiitsukun had given them for expenses and whatnot. However, a new bag had become a necessity when the bottom of her old one suddenly gave out, spilling her books, papers and pens everywhere, and forcing her to balance the whole stack in her arms for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, Bad Luck wasn't done with her yet. The November winds were playing havoc across the grounds today and after the clawing her hair out of her face for the umpteenth time, Mai stopped, dumped her bag on the sidewalk, ripped the tie off the end of her braid, and began redoing her hair in a style that wouldn't blind her. However, owing to the haste with which she had piled all her school supplies into their new home, she hadn't zipped the bag completely shut and the wind tugged a few papers free and down the street. Cursing, Mai chased after them for a good ten minutes before grabbing them back and stuffing them down into their proper places. The last one continued to elude her, and she wasn't able to catch up to it until someone else grabbed it for her. Huffing, she stuck out a hand and was about to thank whoever had caught it when she saw who that someone was.

"This yours?" Tasuki asked.

"Yes," Mai said curtly, taking the paper. Damn. They had managed to avoid each other until now…

Unfortunately, it turned out that the both of them were heading in the same direction, and they ended up walking side-by-side in decidedly uncomfortable silence. Mai thought about feigning an errand and running off, or just running off, but that was stupid and felt, somehow, like admitting defeat. Finally, desperate to say something, _anything, _Tasuki said, "So, uh, you and Taiitsukun…?"

Mai narrowed her eyes. "Me and Taiitsukun what?"

"You really related?"

She was about to demand how he knew about that when she remembered that he must have heard they latest vocal argument. "No. We're not," she said curtly. She scowled. Mai tried to keep her relations to Taiitsukun as unknown as possible.

"So how are you—"

"How the hell is it any of your business, anyway?" she snapped.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Tasuki snapped back. He had been _trying _to be nice. "I'm just making conversation—"

"You're stickin' your nose where it doesn't belong, that's what you're doing," Mai cut in.

"Look, is this bitch thing is natural, or do you have work at it?" Tasuki demanded.

"_What? _What the fuck do you mean by that?"

"What the hell is wrong with you? Ever since I first met you, you've been treating me and everybody else like shit!"

"I do not!" Mai protested, though she sounded like a whiny little kid even to her ears.

"Oh, of course not, that's why you only talk to people if they talk to you first, and even then you just want them to go away. So maybe _we _didn't get off on the right foot, but I haven't exactly tried to fucking provoke you since—"

At that, Mai snorted. "Oh really, a certain running incident seemed to have slipped your mind—"

"Well, fine, besides that."

"So maybe I'm just not interested in being chummy with you and the rest of your damn clique!" Mai said. "Maybe I don't like having other people ask me questions and pry into my life! Ever think of that?"

"'Pry'?" Tasuki repeated. "The hell? All I did was ask about Taiitsukun—why are you so damn touchy?"

"I am _not—_look, I don't have to deal with this. Why don't you just do your thing, I'll do mine, and everybody's happy. Okay?" She turned to go, but he grabbed her arm.

"Because one, it's stupid, two, we're neighbors so we're going to be seeing each other whether we like it or not, and three, it's stupid. We're adults, aren't we?" He dropped her arm and stuck out a hand. "I'm sorry I said you were stalking me. Truce?"

Mai looked at his hand, and her face twitched. She took two steps back, and then abruptly spun away. In surprise, Tasuki watched her run up to her front door, yank it open, and then shut it behind her with a slam. Realizing that his hand was still out, he dropped it in disgust and marched off to his own front door.

_Women._

* * *

Chichiri frowned at his grocery list. Nuriko, in a fit of whimsy, had called earlier that afternoon to inform Chichiri that he wouldn't have to worry about dinner that night because Nuriko's sister Kourin was coming over and Nuriko wanted to cook for her, but would he please pick up a few things first? Nuriko was in fact a very good cook, but his familial ties to one of the _zaibutsu _clans (the wealthy business families, also called "merchant nobility") gave him a rather…unusual repertoire. Chichiri didn't mind the errand, exactly, but some of these ingredients he hadn't the faintest idea where to look.

The handle of his cart shook and he looked up to see Meian placing a bag of apples and a few cereal boxes inside. Seeing him looking at her, she handed him a small spice shaker. "I saw this when I passed through the cereal section," she said. "Is that the one Nuriko-san wanted?"

Chichiri smiled as he looked at her. Before setting out, he had stopped next door to ask if Meian needed any groceries. She said she did and, happily, decided to go along with him to the store. Together they had been sharing a cart and helping each other with their lists. He enjoyed her company.

About an hour later, they were on their way back. Chichiri suddenly commented, "You never told me that you knew Taiitsukun, no da."

"You never asked," Meian replied, flushing. While she had almost entirely stopped stammering about him, she continued to blush easily. "I only know her through Mai." She paused, then went on—Mai hadn't wanted people to know about their connection, but after the previous night's blowup, there seemed little point in hiding it. "Mai used to be her, um, ward? Is that the right term? Taiitsukun adopted her."

Chichiri knew that already from Hotohori and Nuriko, but he didn't say that. "I never saw them together before last night though, no da."

Meian looked surprised, then remembered that he used to work for the old crone. "Well…they don't really get along," she said, sweat-dropping, "as you probably saw from last night." _Probably because they see too much of themselves in each other, and don't like what they see…_

Meian didn't realize that she had also said this last bit out-loud until Chichiri laughed and said, "I suppose that makes sense, no da. Their _tempers _are very similar…"

Meian had to laugh too. "That's true. But actually I think that Mai's been worse than usual lately."

Chichiri raised his eyebrows. "_Worse _no da?"

Hearing his tone, Meian sprang to the defense. "I know that she's not the, um, nicest person in the world," she protested, "but she has her good points! They're just…really hard to see sometimes. Really hard…" Thinking back on the days of their first acquaintance, Meian deflated. "No, you're right. She has been acting pretty, um…"

"Bitchy no da?" Chichiri supplied.

"Yes," Meian said in defeat. "Mai doesn't automatically try to be friends with everyone, but usually she doesn't actively push people away either. And she's been spending a lot of her time in the house and hardly ever goes anywhere. It used to be that she hated being cooped up like that…"

"Maybe she's having a hard time adjusting no da," Chichiri suggested.

"Maybe." But Meian sounded doubtful.

Pulling into his driveway, Chichiri parked and then jumped out to help Meian unload her things from the back. After seeing her try and balance a multitude of brown bags in her arms, he sighed and relieved her of half her burden before she overbalanced and smashed the eggs—then tried not to feel too pleased when she flashed him a thankful smile. To their surprise, however, Meian's front door opened before either one could extract a hand to manipulate the knob.

"Oh, hi," Mai said. "I was wondering where you went." This last was directed at Meian.

"Chichiri-san was on his way, so he offered to take me grocery shopping," Meian explained.

Mai's eyes flicked behind her friend and saw Chichiri's politely smiling face over a tuft of celery. "I see." There seemed to be an odd struggle of emotion in her face. "That was, um, nice of you," she said finally, sounding awkward. "Thanks." Then she stepped aside to let them both come in.

Meian and Chichiri both stared at her as if she had grown horns. Any of the other times they had met, Mai had scowled and marched straight back inside without saying anything.

"What?" Mai demanded, in her usual sharp tone. "Are you guys gonna come in, or what?"

Meian shook herself out of her paralysis and stammered, "Y-yes, sorry." Chichiri followed her inside to put the food in the kitchen and then was shocked again when Mai accompanied him back to his house.

"Is that…redhead still there?" Mai asked him.

"You mean Tasuki no da? I would assume so," Chichiri replied, perplexed. "I didn't actually see him before I went out, but—" He frowned as Mai followed him outside and closed the door behind her.

"I need to talk to him," she said. "Can you get him?"

"Okay…" Chichiri, still very puzzled by his neighbor's strange behavior, went inside. Tasuki was indeed at home, sitting on the couch and scowling at the TV. "Tasuki no da?"

"Wha—oh, Chichiri," Tasuki said, looking up. "What?"

"Err…Mai is here to see you no da."

As Chichiri anticipated, Tasuki's scowl deepened. "_What? _What the hell does _she_—" He shut off the tube and vaulted over the back of the couch to the front door. Chichiri followed him and couldn't help listening to the following conversation on the pretext of getting the food out of his car.

"What the hell do you want?" Tasuki demanded.

Mai's face darkened, but she bit back the words. A part of her wanted to spit in his face and walk away, but she had had to admit that he had been right; she _had _been acting rather bitchier than normal lately. _Like a child, _she had thought, remembering what Taiitsukun had said the previous night, which had sparked their latest argument. It galled her to realize that she had been right and even _he_ was acting more mature than she was at this point. "L-look," she said, her voice sounding horribly uncomfortable, and her fists clenching and unclenching. "I'm…"

Tasuki leaned against the doorframe, crossed his arms and waited.

"I'm sorry, okay?" she blurted out in a rush. "You were right, I was wrong, I _was _acting shitty about things and, and, I apologize." She was glaring at him and sounded angry again, but it seemed as if it wasn't all directed outward for once.

They stared at each other for about a minute, not saying anything. Then Tasuki said, "That it? That all you came to say?"

"Y-yeah." She turned around, took a step, then spun back again. "I'm sorry about being such a bitch, but don't go expecting me to suddenly become your best friend, all right? I'll…be more neighborly and shit, but don't go thinkin' about anything else!"

Tasuki gave her a sardonic look. "I don't think _anybody _expects anything more from you."

"O-okay." She actually looked somewhat…embarrassed, which was probably why Tasuki looked so amused, Chichiri thought. Now that she didn't have that perpetual glare on, he realized that she actually was only about Tasuki's age. "Just as long as we get that straight," she went on, backing away. "Good night!" Then she practically sprinted off. Tasuki watched her, then looked over at Chichiri and shrugged before going back inside.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not mine.

**Chapter 4**

Tasuki didn't see her at all the next day, or the day after that, so he was beginning to doubt the sincerity of her apology. Not that his opinion of her was very high anyway, but after seeing her look so damn _awkward _on his front step, he had actually believed her…well, whatever. What did he care?

He was therefore rather surprised when, three days after the apology, she showed up again. And sat down next to him.

He was eating lunch with the rest of his housemates in the student union, per usual, and Nuriko was arguing foreign film with Hotohori, Tamahome was debating economic theories with Chiriko, and Mitsukake was scribbling a grocery list on a napkin. It was the med student's turn to cook that weekend. Tasuki, bored, was trying to figure what the heck Chiriko and Tamahome were saying, while idly contemplating what would be best way to start a food fight in here, when suddenly Nuriko broke off the merits of French cinema to stare at his hair.

"What?" Tasuki demanded after a while. "I grow horns or some—"

"Can I sit here?"

The redhead whipped around to stare, as did the rest of the table. Nuriko hadn't been staring at his hair at all, but the person behind it—namely, Mai, who was looking fully as awkward as she had three days ago, increasingly unhappy about it, but resigned to her fate. She looked like Miaka's friend Yui did whenever Tamahome took them out to lunch together (Tasuki knew this only because he worked part-time at Miaka's favorite buffet last year, before succumbing to pyro-mania and setting the kitchens on fire). There was a bruise on her cheek and a bandage on her arm.

"All the other tables are taken," Mai explained, when everyone continued to stare at her. "And I'm _not _going to sit with the electric slut, makeup freak, and creepy monk-brat while they wax _ad nauseum ad vomitum _about Nakago-sama, the significance of paint color, and demonic tops."

Hotohori, recovering first, coughed and waved a gracious hand at the open space next to Tasuki. "Please feel free… Mai, was it?"

"Thanks," Mai mumbled and sat.

At first, no one said anything. The entire situation was surreal. Mai, Miss Anti-social-leave-me-the-fuck-alone-before-I- dismember-you-six-ways-from-Thursday, actually _asking_ to sit at a table with someone? And their table too, next to the guy she had previously had several screaming matches with? Chichiri had, of course, told the rest of them about the little he had heard and seen three days ago, but Tasuki didn't choose to enlighten them about the rest.

After a spell of complete silence, Mai looked up from her hamburger and realized they were sitting like a bunch of statues. "What the fuck are you all—" Strangely, she then paused, glanced at _Tasuki_, swallowed, sighed, visibly struggled with her speech, and said, "I'm being…neighborly."

Still silent staring, though Tasuki's snort into his coke brought back her glare.

"It's an experiment in non-violent, conventional social interaction, okay? I don't got any intention of killing, maiming, injuring or plotting against anyone at this table, but thank fuck I don't have to watch my language since you're probably all inured to Red here." She jerked a thumb at Tasuki. "So cooperate. _Say _something, damn it."

That speech, if anything, made all this even more weird, but even under the heavy sarcasm they could tell she was trying. _Why, _after two months, they didn't know but at least she was making an effort.

This time, it was Nuriko who broke the silence. "Okay…so why don't you like Soi, Tomo, and Miboshi?" he asked.

Mai lifted an eyebrow. "You mean you all _do_?"

"Well, no. But I already know why _we _despise them. Why do you?"

"Oh." Mai played with her straw a little. "Well, Nakago is the GSI for one of my classes. I'm guessing you know him," she said, noting in particular Tamahome's expression. "Since I blew off the first two weeks of class, I missed a shit load of notes and was trying to get them from the blonde bastard—"

"Whom I'm guessing didn't give them to you," Hotohori finished.

"No. _He _said that as a student it was my responsibility to get them from someone else I knew in the class. I told him that I missed the first two weeks of class, how the fuck was I supposed to know anybody to get notes from? Then he said that wasn't his problem, and I nearly decked him when his girl—Soi?" She looked to Nuriko for confirmation. "Soi showed up, draped her self all over him, and told Nakago to 'send the bitch away so you can give me some…tutoring.'" Mai looked as if she were about to retch. "She thought I was _flirting_ with the asshole, so flaunted the fact she was fucking him. My god, as if I would ever… Anyway, they started making out, _I _still hadn't gotten the damn notes so I…uh, snapped."

"What you do?" Tasuki asked.

Mai shrugged. "Well, I had to improvise. I slammed my book bag into the back of Soi's head while she was playing tonsil hockey, knocking her to the ground, and kicked Nakago in the balls when he stood there wondering why he could breathe again."

The table burst out into applause, and Mai looked slightly taken aback before smirking. "Thanks. Anyway, that afternoon, the clown freak and his creepy floating baby friend appeared. The clown starting going in on me about how dare I touch his beloved Nakago, and ruin his beautiful…equipment," she looked a little ill, "and I told him to piss off. Then the baby started making remarks about my mental insecurities—the freak was fucking shrinking me! I told him to fuck off, and where too, which got them both mad and they attacked me. The clown tried to cut me with a _feather, _for fuck's sake, and hit me with his stupid clam-shaped PDA. The baby actually managed to stab me with that damn prayer wheel of his." She stabbed a fry into her ketchup. "Luckily I recognized the clown from class as the weirdo who drooled at Bakago all the time, and stole his backpack after he cried over the clam PDA I stomped on. Who the hell has a PDA shaped like a fucking _clam_?"

Tamahome snickered. "You call him Bakago too?"

Mai blinked. "Well, yeah. It's the same thing I called him five years ago after he fucking _ki-blasted _me for taking the last éclair at Granny Hag's birthday party. I would call him a stupidly macho, stuck-up, whip sadist with a scaly blue pole up his ass, but Bakago's easier to say."

Hotohori silently resigned himself to another acquaintance with an overly imaginative vocabulary of insults.

Nuriko snapped his fingers. "I remember that, actually. So you _are _Chian Mai, Taiitsukun's granddaughter?"

Mai stiffened, then narrowed her eyes at Nuriko. The purple-head was subjected to an uncomfortably searching glance before Mai sat back. "You're…Nuriko, right? Best friends with…Hotohori, Suzaku's kid?"

They both nodded.

Mai shrugged. "Thought you looked familiar, but wasn't sure…'sbeen awhile." And she hadn't exactly been very friendly then either, was the unspoken thought.

"So if you know Nuriko and Hotohori, have you met Chichiri before too?" Tamahome asked.

"Chichiri? Who—oh. The weirdly Zen guy with the blue, uh…" she waved a hand in a semi-circle off the top of her head. Tasuki nearly spit out his coke when he realized she was referring to Chichiri's bangs. Well, they were gravity-defying. "No, I don't. Know him, I mean." She eyed Tamahome. "Should I?"

"Well..." Tamahome scratched the back of his head. "He was Taiitsukun's personal assistant for two years, before he became house manager for us."

"Oh." Mai's face did this weird closing thing before she took a bite of her burger to cover. "I've been abroad the last two years, so I won't know."

"Abroad?" Nuriko perked up. He loved to travel. "Where?"

Mai shifted uncomfortably. "Er…China. Hong Kong."

"Studying, or…?"

"No, a job. Um…yeah, a job."

"Really? What did you—"

Mai shot up. "Wow, would you _look _at the time, gotta go!" The last was somewhat muffled due to the fact she had shoved the last quarter of her burger in her mouth before zooming off.

Silence.

Chiriko quietly wiped his mouth and put his napkin down before saying, "Well, I have over 20,000 works in my vocabulary, but I believe the one most applicable to the last 20 minutes and their ending is _weird._"

* * *

Chichiri heard about the lunchtime incident from Hotohori, and mentioned it to Meian the next day. It was a sunny afternoon and Meian got out of her classes early, so she was draping some of the laundry over the clothesline she had strung between the fence post and a tree limb.

"Really?" said Meian after she heard. She frowned, and straightened a sheet. "Well, Mai has been acting a little differently the past few days…"

"Like how no da?"

Meian looked thoughtful. "Well, she's been helping out more around the house, and offered to cook tonight. And I've been seeing her doing homework. And she's out more. I just thought Taiitsukun had got to her, or she had finally decided to make the best of her situation…but you say that Tasuki said something?"

Chichiri scratched the back of his head. "Well, I don't know no da. I _think _so. I mean, I saw them talking instead of screaming, but Tasuki won't tell me what they talked about." He paused. "Wait, you said "make the best of her situation"?"

"Er…" Meian pinked a little. "Well, I mean Mai never really did like school you know, and I never got the impression that she ever _wanted _to go on to college. I told you that we lost contact after she graduated from high school, and I didn't hear from her again until Taiitsukun gave me a call saying that Mai was also coming to this university."

"I doubt she went on to college if she's enrolled as just a freshman now, no da. Do you know what she did after high school?" Chichiri asked curiously.

Meian shook her head. "No, not really. She hasn't told me much, and I really didn't want to pry. I _think _that she was working somewhere—"

"Nuriko said that she told them she was in Hong Kong."

"Hong Kong?"

Chichiri nodded. "You look surprised no da."

"Oh. Well, that's where she grew up. She was always talking about it, and she said she still had a lot of friends there. She could only keep in touch with a few though. Hmm…"

"Da…Well, that's interesting. Your friend disappears, apparently working in Hong Kong, then shows up two years later and refuses to tell you what she's been doing. But Taiitsukun's the one who contacted you about her?"

Meian frowned at him. "I'm not sure I really like how you're making that sound."

Chichiri leaned back, and scratched his head in embarrassment. "Sorry no da. I didn't mean to imply—"

Meian sighed. "No, it's okay." _Mai's not exactly new to shady, I know. I just would rather not entertain the possibility._

The blue-haired man felt a little sting at Meian's slightly down-fallen face, and quickly changed the subject. "Hey, are you free this Saturday, no da?"

Meian blinked. "Saturday? Yes, why?"

"Well, we were planning to go buy pumpkins this weekend. For Halloween no da. Mai can come too if she wants—Tamahome's bringing his girlfriend and her friend Yui."

"Well, I'll ask Mai if she's free, but…okay, sure." Meian then paused as she did the math in her head. "But are we all going to _fit_? I mean, I don't have a car…"

Chichiri shrugged. "I'm sure we'll manage."

* * *

Saturday morning found Meian standing in her neighbor's driveway, watching them manage. Personally, she thought it looked a lot more like arguing than managing, but hey. This is the Age of Euphemisms and Political Correctness.

The problem really boiled down to the two cars. Or rather, just the one, Hotohori's car. He had bought the spiffy red convertible last week, and had promised Nuriko a ride. Unfortunately, he had also promised Miaka a ride as well, and Miaka refused to be parted from her beloved Tamahome or her friend Yui. Furthermore, it was rather obvious that Mitsukake could only sit in Hotohori's car because his prodigious height definitely made it impossible for him to fit into Chichiri's little blue Civic without a severe violation of physics.

Hotohori's car could only fit four—including Hotohori, the driver.

So they had Nuriko at his theatrical best, Mitsukake at his stoic best, Tamahome at his girlfriend-pleasing best, Yui at her awkward best, and Miaka at her big-eye-pleading best. Meian privately thought that the promise to Nuriko should have greater weight than the one to Miaka, since that one had been made earlier, but Hotohori seemed to disagree. There seemed to be some weird love polygon vibe going on, with Miaka at the center…though Meian was a little at a loss to _why_. She was cute, but not a beauty, and looked downright childish with those two auburn buns plunked on her head. Her appetite was also rather frightening—Mai and Meian had seen her devour a ten-pancake tower all by herself earlier that morning.

Yes, Mai was there too, to the surprise of everyone. Meian had said she'd ask, of course, but… Well, _Mai _had actually vowed to be there to drag _Meian _along after catching her housemate passed out over her botany books at 3am the previous night. Still acting a little awkward in company, she had said good mornings to everyone pleasantly enough and was watching the argument with Meian in bemused amusement.

Miaka's friend Yui was prettier, and definitely seemed more sophisticated… Meian had to guess it was the nearly over-powering earnest naivety that the girl projected that hooked onto some primitive male instinct to protect the female.

Finally, Hotohori displayed his diplomatic best and announced in what Nuriko referred to as his "Emperor of Konan-Class President-Supreme Rose Duelist" Voice (the drama major watched far too many anime shows for a term paper last year), that:

1. Mitsukake had to sit in his car, because there was no way short of cutting his head off he was going to fit in Chichiri's;

2. Miaka, Tamahome and Yui would ride in his car on the way to the farm, Miaka squished onto her boyfriend's lap;

3. But Nuriko would get to _drive _on the way back.

"Damn," Mai muttered. "He really does sound just like his father." Shoving hands into the worn pockets of her motorcycle jacket, she pivoted on a sneaker toward the car the rest of them were going to be riding in. And did the math. "_Your _car only seats four too," she told Chichiri. "How the hell are we supposed to sit _six? _Strap one of us to the roof?"

"Oh, Tasuki's not riding with us no da," Chichiri replied. "He's taking his bike."

"He's what?"

Just then the redhead in question came out, dressed in his leather jacket and accompanied by what was probably the most beautiful roadhog ever. This last, of course, was simply a guess on Meian's part, since her experience with such vehicles was only slightly greater than that with ancient books that sucked you into Ancient China Fantasy-land—but it probably was a good guess given the expression on Mai's face that resembled someone have a mind-blowing orgasm after notification of winning the largest lottery jackpot _ever, _the winnings would be tax-free, and that they had the power to remake the universe as they saw fit.

Even Tasuki noticed, and paused in zipping up his jacket. "Dude," he said. "You're _drooling._"

That snapped her out of it, if only briefly. "Am not," she snapped, but then she was all over the bike, bouncing here and there and everywhere like a dragged sock puppet jabbering motorcycle-speak. Meian did not understand a word. Tasuki's expression, both bewildered at Mai's behavior and smug at the obvious effect his beloved bike was having on her, was hard-pressed to keep up. Chichiri watched quietly for a few minutes and then cleared his throat.

"I have a suggestion no da. Why don't you," he nodded to Mai, "ride with Tasuki? That way we'd all fit into the car and no one will have to sit on anyone's lap or get strapped to the roof."

Mai did everything but clap her hands and jump.

Tasuki muttered "I Hate Women—them and their damn googly eyes." Mai debated braining him for that one, but then that would totally defeat the purpose

At least, Tasuki had to admit, it appeared Mai knew how to ride a bike. The last few times he had given a girl a ride she'd either attempted to break his ribs (his sister Aidou), or mush her breasts straight to his libido. Admittedly, the last wouldn't have been so bad it if hadn't been his gang leader's 14 year old daughter.

The farm they all went to was about 20 minutes outside of town. It was a little family-owned place that eked out a living playing on people's nostalgia for "folksy holiday activities." For Halloween, they had a hayride, a corn maze, apple bobbing, and a general store of pumpkin pies, cider, jam and cookies. And, of course, sold lots and lots of pumpkins. They even provided tables and a tent under which customers could paint or carve their own gourds free of charge.

Mitsukake and Meian were carved their designs into the orange flesh with all the worrying exactitude of medical students with scalpels, while Hotohori was making his own with a fencer's finesse. Tamahome, next to him, was trying to decide whether this pumpkin should go to Miaka or Yuiren, his little sister. Nuriko, Chiriko, and Chichiri, on the other hand, preferred to use paint.

Tasuki, however, thought there was something deeply satisfying about hacking into starchy gourd flesh and scooping out the stringy insides. He was about to start carving a howling wolf in the face of his pumpkin when he realized that Mai, would was sitting across from him, was still staring at her pumpkin in utter bafflement.

"Still can't think of anything?"

"Well, no," she admitted, twirling her knife absently. "I mean, I've never done this before."

He stared. "You've never decorated a _pumpkin_ before?" Pause. "You _have _celebrated Halloween, right?"

"_Yes._" She glared at him. "Look, Taiitsukun didn't really trust—I mean let me around knives much, okay? _Or _paint either," she added. "Nyan Nyans and brightly colored liquid things are _not _a good idea."

Tasuki blinked, not quite sure what to say to that, and an awkward silence fell. Eventually, he became absorbed in carving his pumpkin again. Later, when he got up to place his with the others so the gourd could dry out, he passed Mai again and noting that she had finally chosen a pattern. And, judging by her face, was distinctly unhappy with it.

"What the hell is that supposed to say?" he blurted, staring at the chunky, twisted block-work.

"Happy Halloween," Mai snapped.

"Happy…" He tilted his head sideways—ok, he could sort of see it. "I think you spelled it wrong."

"What?"

"See, there's only one 'e' there—"

"For fuck's sake!" Mai exploded, ignoring the look a mother gave her from the next table. "What does your damn pumpkin look like then?"

Rather proudly, Tasuki turned it around so the design was facing her. "Check it. Not bad, huh? But don't worry," he said, "using a knife can get pretty tricky—"

She lunged at him.

"What the fuck—" Now it was the redhead who was getting the censoring stares, but as he was busy dodged the freaking _knife _that the crazy chick was attacking him with, he also didn't care. The blade just brushed his eyebrow. "What the hell do you think you're doing, you fucking psycho?"

Mai stared at him, knife in one hand, pumpkin in the other and…burst out laughing.

"What?" he demanded, well and truly annoyed.

"Missing something?" she snickered.

"Wha…?" The redhead felt gingerly where the blade had missed him. Instead of blood there was the slightly prickly feel of…"You cut off my eyebrow?"

She waggled the knife at him. "Shaved, actually."

"You cut off my eyebrow," the redhead repeated unbelievably. He set his pumpkin down carefully. All right, that was it. "You cut off my fucking _eyebrow."_

She rocked back on her heels, still grinning. "Well, you do have two. Couldn't you spare one—fuck!"

The misspelled gourd went flying, as well as the knife (thankfully to thunk harmlessly into the tabletop) as Tasuki lunged at her. They both went backward over the table as Mai slipped on a spilled paint pot and sent them both tumbling into the duck pond. Thankfully, it wasn't very deep so they didn't drown, though they did get very wet and muddy.

Tasuki's memory of what happened next wasn't too clear, but from what others said later, the redhead and Mai had a free-for-all in the middle of the water. Tamahome said it looked at first like they were attempting a reenactment of their fight in the gym, but knee-deep pond water and muddy footing wasn't exactly conducive to martial arts finesse. It very quickly degenerated into the sort of thing you saw on lower-end reality shows, with actual mud-slinging. Nuriko swore he saw Mai fling an actual _duck _at Tasuki's head that he, well, ducked.

The duo's demonstration of what _not_ to do on the playground for the benefit of all the little kiddies' education (and enjoyment) was finally interrupted when the owners of the place came in. One of them, a tall, gentle-looking man with long dark hair simply sighed when he saw the mess and waved a hand. Vines erupted out of the ground and gently (but very firmly) separated the combatants and deposited them on the ground. Dazed, they sat on the ground as the plant-mage's wife, Suzuno, handed them towels. Not, of course, that they got off as easy as that. While the rest of their group went off to check out the hayrides and corn maze, Mai and Tasuki were stuck behind righting tables, cleaning up spilled paint, and repairing the damage they had done to the fence before falling into the water.

Mai wiped the last paint puddle off the tabletop and sat down with her back to the now repaired fence. She closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the sun. She didn't move when Tasuki also threw away his last rag and plopped down next to her. The two sat together in silence and listened to the various children playing in the background.

"Sorry about the duck," Mai said suddenly.

Tasuki jumped and found her looking at him. "What?"

"The duck," she repeated. "I'm sorry I threw it at you."

"Oh." He fingered the beak-mark. "Well, I imagine the duck wasn't too fucking happy either," he said dryly. Mai's mouth quirked, and he shrugged. "At least it hit here, so I can put a band-aid over the eyebrow _that isn't there anymore."_

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. I throw a freaking _duck _at you and you're more pissed about the _eyebrow?_"

"Ducks," the redhead said loftily, "may come and go, but an eyebrow takes a damn long time to grow back."

She stared at him for a second and then burst out laughing. "Oh hell," she said, gasping, "you don't really mean that."

Tasuki couldn't help grinning himself. "Of course not. Though an eyebrow does."

She raised one of hers at him. "Oh? And how would you know that?"

He shrugged again. "A misspent youth."

"Yeah, I'll bet. In a gang, wasn't it?"

He stared at her. "How the hell you know that?"

"'s way you fight," she said. "Not like your friend Tamahome—I mean, he's good too, but he's practically got formal, traditional training stamped on his head. You fight like the main thing isn't how pretty or honorable you can make it, but that you make the other guy give in first. Like anything—oh hell. You aren't Anything-Goes, are you?"

You could hear the capital letters in that, so Tasuki had no problems answering, "What, them in Nerima? Hell no. Those people are fucking _insane. _I mean, some of their techniques are kinda cool, but that school's all batshit crazy."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good, I'm not either. Anyway, like I was saying…the way you fight is like me. And given the whole, you know _group _thing you've got going with your housemates kinda points to gang."

"Huh." He eyed her. "Were you ever in one?"

"Who, me?" Her head flew up, a little like a startled horse. "A gang? No, never." She suddenly frowned, and looked a little irritated, like she'd given something away she shouldn't have. "Come on," she said, standing up abruptly. "I think the others are done."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I still hold no copyright papers in my possession.

AN: Sorry for the delay. There was the hells of finals, then in summer hijacked my brain and demanded I be outside. Here's a short chappie until I get back into the swing of writing again.

**Chapter 5**

Halloween was…interesting. Given that this was a college town, there was no trick or treating in the traditional, PG sense—especially since everyone had learned years ago that you did NOT open doors to adorable little girls in odangoes dressed as witches on October 31st, and you especially did not given said girls sugary candy treats unless you actually liked waking up in the morning to find your house collapsed around you.

So no trick or treating. But plenty of parties—Nuriko's sister Kourin shared her brother's taste for the dramatic and threw the best Halloween parties on campus. The siblings both loved to dress up and then go around convincing people that they were the other one. Add Hotohori's girlfriend Houki in the mix, and things got awfully (but amusingly) confusing. Apple bobbing in barrels of hard cider was a favorite of Tasuki's, who more often than not ended up drinking more of the cider than bobbing the apple. Usually he ended up later running around with Tamahome, Nuriko and Chichiri to go tricking. This year they went over to a certain blonde's house and decorated his front yard with a gigantic phoenix pinning a blue dragon in a rather…compromising position. No one could remember how they actually _made _the sculpture or out of what (apparently you can get pretty creative when you're that drunk) but Chichiri appeared to have cast an Immobility and Invincibility spell on it. It took Nakago a full three days after the holiday to dismantle it, and they got plenty of great pictures in the meantime.

Even Taiitsukun got into the ghoulish spirit and found great pleasure in materializing in random places and random parties to scare the crap out of her college's students. She didn't even have to wear a costume.

It was only later that Meian realized that she hadn't seen Mai at all during that night. But since her housemate was there the next morning, eating her bowl of cereal in front of the TV and muttering dire things at the weatherman (whose erroneous forecast had soaked her in an unforeseen rain storm earlier that week), she didn't think anything of it. Mai did seem extraordinarily pleased with herself, however.

* * *

Meian, tiring of having Mai's T-shirts fall apart on her in the wash, decided that she need to take her friend shopping for a new wardrobe. However, knowing exactly how vehement her friend's protests would be, she enlisted the help of Tamahome's friend Miaka and Miaka's friend Yui. The high school girls were more than happy to be of assistance—Miaka was practically bouncing up and down at the prospect of spending someone else's money, since Taiitsukun was funding this little endeavor. Between the three of them they managed to get Mai to the mall in a scheme that involved two coils of rope, a wheelbarrow, and a cup of tea made with the leaves of one of Meian's houseplants…which also happened to be a natural sedative.

Needless to say, Mai was not at all happy to wake up and find herself in the middle of a clothes store, painted pink, with row upon row of whatever was deemed fashionable that week. Before she could go completely ballistic, however, Meian switched into the "Earnest Hyperventilation Mode" and apologized profusely for their trickery, but honestly, Mai, you can't just go on this way, I know you don't care what you wear but all your clothes are falling apart in the wash, and soon you're be down to your underwear and think how embarrassing that would be, I mean, I would lend you my clothes, of course, but I don't think they'd fit, you being half a foot taller than me, and besides, Taiitsukun said that she would pay for everything and…

Well, what could Mai do in the face of that? Meian was getting more upset than she was and Mai caved, reluctantly agreeing to at least try a few things on. Where upon Meian shoved a pile of clothes at her and pushed her into a dressing room.

Not for the first time, Mai began to suspect that her friend was not entirely as ingenuous as she made out to be. She sighed, and with an air akin to someone walking to the block plucked an item out of the pile. And stared at it.

"HELL NO!"

Miaka returned from wherever she had been zooming around the store (seriously, do _not_ get in the way of a teenage girl in buns) to find Meian (and Yui, who had been attracted by all the noise) trying to shove Mai back into the dressing room.

"I really don't give a fuck _what _state of rot my clothes are in, I am _not _wearing that! Or that! Or that! Or whatever the hell that is!"

"Please, Mai, stop shouting!"

"I am NOT—I mean, I am not shouting. I'm, I'm, I'm protesting loudly. I mean—" She pointed furiously at the puddle of fabric on the floor. "Who the hell picked these clothes? There're all skirts and lace and frills and—" She shuddered.

Meian had to agree—Miaka had done most of the selecting, and therefore most of the clothes reflected the younger (and much more…cutesy) girl's taste. But they had to start _somewhere… _The med student fished out a hanger. "It can't _all _be bad. Look, this isn't a skirt, and it doesn't have any lace or frills either."

Her friend gave her a pained look. "It's pink."

Miaka frowned. "What's wrong with pink? I like pink."

Mai trained her gaze on to the bun-head, but Yui hurriedly stepped in. "Why don't we just go to another store? There's an Urban Outfitters and a Forever 21 on the second floor…"

"Oh yeah! Right next to the food court!" Miaka bounced and ran for the exit. The other three soon followed upon the sight of the store manager bearing unhappily upon them and the mess they had just made.

Four stores (and three milkshakes, two mega-cinnabons, and five Auntie Anne's pretzels, in Miaka's case) later, and still they were having little luck. What clothes Mai didn't reject outright she would later deem as not worth the price. Slumped on the fitting room couch in Macy's, Meian was perilously close to swearing again.

Yui looked at her. "She's…picky, huh?"

Meian sighed. "I appreciate the tact. Mai?" she called, "How's it going? How do the jeans look?"

"Damn legs are too short," came the grumble. "And who the hell would pay this much for a pair of _jeans? _Why can't I just stick with my old pair?"

Meian rubbed her temples. "Because it's November, and the wind will whistle through the holes and you will catch a cold. And they nearly fell apart in the last wash."

"I sewed the pocket back on, didn't I?"

Yui caught her eye and gave her a sympathetic look. "It's the same thing whenever Miaka takes Tamahome shopping. He doesn't care how much _her _clothes cost, but anything new for _him_ and…" She trailed off meaningfully.

Meian frowned. "Where is Miaka, anyway? I thought she went over to the shoe section to see if they sold sneakers in Mai's size—"

"She got stuck in men's staring at Tamahome no da."

Meian nearly jumped a foot in the air. "Ch-ch-chichiri! How—"

The blue-haired man smiled. "It seems Nuriko had the same idea you did and dragged us out shopping no da. His sister's birthday is coming up and apparently Hotohori absolutely required a new winter wardrobe. The rest of us were just bored no da." He sat down next to Meian and tried not to notice how pretty she looked when she blushed. "Who's in there?"

"Mai," replied Meian. "She _really _needed some new clothes so…and Yui and Miaka offered to help. Thank you, by the way," Meian said to the blonde girl, "I'm really sorry how—"

Yui waved a hand with an increasingly automated motion. Meian had apologized four times in the last hour and a half. "It's okay, I—"

"Chichiri, you jerk, you can_not _just fucking _leave _me like that," snapped Tasuki, abruptly appearing with five shopping bags in his hands. "The two fashion idiots make me carry all their damn stuff—"

"Hah!" added Chiriko, from behind him. "_You _they just make carry stuff, _me _they want to play dress up with! They've had me try on five different outfits in the past half hour!"

"Oh?" said Chichiri. "How did you escape?"

"Told them I was looking for you."

"Hey," Tasuki said, looking at Meian and Yui. "Who are we waiting for here? Miaka's with Bakahome—"

"It's—"

"If we're _supposed _to be shopping for new _winter _clothes," came the explosion, "who the hell slipped this in?"

The door bounced open, and Mai stepped out, looking exceedingly annoyed. She was wearing a shimmery blue mini-dress that fit like a second skin while showing off a generous amount of…eye candy. A pair of silver spike heels boosted her height up four inches while making her legs seem miles and miles long.

Jaws dropped.

"I mean, what the hell?" Mai went on. She bent down a little, inadvertently giving all view down her top while tugging on the barely existent skirt. "Is it just me, or is the neckline and hemline of this thing the fucking _same? _Who would _sell _this sort…of…thing…" She blinked and realized that her audience on the fitting room couch had grown. Tasuki eventually raised a hand to cover Chiriko's eyes, but was so transfixed the palm only made it halfway there.

"What is everyone looking at?" asked Nuriko. He was dragging Tamahome backward by the collar while Hotohori pushed the still muttering "Tamahome…" Miaka. They all stopped and joined in the staring—even Tamahome and Miaka were snapped out of their lovey-trance (until Miaka, noticing what Tamahome was looking at, smacked him).

Mai turned three shades of deep, deep mortification and whipped back inside the room. The slam of the door rattled the walls.

Chichiri cleared his throat. "Well. That was—"

"Was that _Mai?"_ demanded Nuriko. "Really? Where did she get that dress? …do they have my size?"

Hotohori eyed his friend. "Even if they had your size, Nuriko, I do not believe that it would…work."

"I concur," said Chiriko in a daze. "It didn't exactly leave much to the imagination." Everyone's heads whipped around to stare at him and he blushed. "Merely an observation."

Tasuki was quietly waiting for the blood to rush back to its proper place in his veins.

"Mai? Mai?" Meian was knocking on the door. "Are you alright?"

"No! Go the fuck away! Where the hell did all of them come from?"

"They just got here—"

"Well, tell them to fuck off! I'm never coming out again!"

"What's she getting all worked up about?" wondered Tamahome. "I mean, she looked _fine _in that dress—though you'd look better," he hurriedly told Miaka.

"I think that may have been the problem," remarked Yui dryly. "Somehow, I don't think that Mai is comfortable looking that way in those kinds of clothes."

Hotohori looked surprised. "She's uncomfortable about looking sexy? Why?"

Chichiri patted his arm. "Not everyone has as…healthy…an ego as you, no da."

The next twenty minutes were spent trying to coax Mai out of the fitting room. Other customers were giving them odd looks and store employees had been over more than once. Finally, Tasuki had enough—he was tired, hungry, thirsty, and hadn't fought anyone or burnt anything in hours. He pounded on the door. "Dammit, you can't stay in there forever!"

"Bite me. This is all your fault!"

"What the—how the hell is this my fault?"

"Give me a minute! I'll figure it out!"

"For the love of—it was just a fucking dress!"

"Precisely! And everyone saw me in it!"

"Not exactly the best choice of _words_ there, Fang-Boy," Tamahome said.

"Shut up, Bakahome," Tasuki snapped. He turned back to the door. "What is your problem? We don't care. And I'm fucking hungry. We aren't going to change our opinions of you being an annoying, loud, rude female with an anger problem because of a _stupid dress." Even if it was a really hot dress, _he added silently before his better judgment punted that thought away.

"Mai, please," Meian added. "Just come out and we'll go home. We can try shopping again later—"

"Hell no." Both Meian and Tasuki jumped back as the door banged open to Mai in her regular clothes. She had an armful of clothes in her arms. "We are _not _doing this again. Let's just take this crap and go." She marched over to the cashier and dumped the armful on the counter. She yanked out Taiitsukun's credit card like she was pulling a piece and slammed it down. The kid behind the counter, a teenager with oddly greenish dark blond hair stared at her—before shifting his gaze behind Mai. His mouth dropped open and his eyes glazed over.

"What's with you?" Mai demanded. "You look like you've been hit with the Lovesick Idiot Bat."

"Hi, Suboshi," Yui said. "I didn't know you worked here."

"Y-Yeah." He fumbled for the credit card on the counter and somehow managed to knock the cash register over. While trying to right it, the pile of clothes Mai was going to buy also slipped, and the unlucky ended up on the floor buried under women's clothing.

"Hey, what's all the –oh." And identical teen came over, his name tag proclaiming…

"Hi, Amiboshi!" waved Miaka.

"Hi. Suboshi, what were you doing?" Amiboshi grabbed an arm and pulled his twin up. "Oh," he said again when he saw Yui. Together they righted the counter and rang up Mai's purchases.

"Have a nice day!" Amiboshi called after them as his brother hid behind the counter, playing with a yo-yo he had in his pocket.

* * *

They ate at the food court. Mai promptly made a beeline for the pizza counter, proclaiming she deserved some cheese, grease and pepperoni after the day's events. Tasuki and Tamahome followed her. Meian shuddered, and headed toward Subway with Chichiri. Hotohori and Nuriko decided they wanted Magic Wok, and Yui thought that looked good as well. Miaka couldn't make up her mind and decided to get one of everything.

"Mmm," Mai said, sitting back and rubbing her stomach. "God I love grease." She eyed Nuriko's and Hotohori's plates. "Don't know how you can eat that crap though."

Somewhat used to her blunt manner now, Hotohori lifted an eyebrow rather than get annoyed. "You have some objection to sweet and sour MSG?"

She shrugged. "I'm picky about my Chinese food."

"Oh, that's right," Tamahome said, "you lived Hong Kong for awhile, didn't you? What kind of job did you say you did there again?"

"Uhh…" Mai was uncomfortably aware of Meian's curious gaze. "Er…bartending."

"What? Really?" Nuriko perked up.

"Watch it," Tasuki said dryly. "Nuriko will challenge you to a mixologist battle with Nuriko Specials and that always ends in a fucking mess."

"Nuriko Specials?" Mai echoed.

"Nuriko's special creation no da," Chichiri explained. "The Dreaded Drink to the rest of us."

"Oh, come on," Nuriko protested. "It's not that bad!"

"Yes, yes it is," the rest of the table replied.

Their housemate pouted. "Oh, I bet Mai has some worst slammers she's made up. Right?"

Mai shrugged. "Not really. I just serve the stuff, I don't drink."

"What? Really?"

"It's not my thing." She scowled at a distant memory. "I prefer to get my kicks in another way."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: No, don't own it.

Author's Note: Sorry about the late update, but life and lack of inspiration got in the way. I'm trying to stick with this fic, though, so bear with me.

**Chapter 6**

Meian was in the Starbucks on campus, talking to herself while sipped a tall green tea latte when Chichiri appeared beside her.

"Hi."

"Eep!" Meian fumbled for her cup before it tilted over her laptop. "H-hi."

"Can I sit here?" the blue haired man asked, nodded at the seat across from her.

"O-of course."

He slid into the chair and eyed the stacks of notebooks and textbooks littering the table's surface. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I no da?"

"N-no, of course not," Meian said hurriedly. "I'm just practicing for my presentation."

Chichiri sipped his coffee. "Presentation no da?"

"It's part of a group project…See?" She swiveled her computer around so the screen faced him; Chichiri caught her pens before they fell to the floor. "I have to present on it Friday, so I'm trying to memorize everything."

Chichiri raised his eyebrows. "Memorize no da? Aren't you allowed notecards or something?"

Meian flushed a little. "Well, yes, but… I, um, get stage fright and forget everything if I don't have everything memorized so…"

"Oh. Do you want to practice in front of me then, no da?"

She blinked. "What?"

Chichiri tried to ignore how much he enjoyed making her cheeks pink. "You can pretend I'm your audience."

"You…you don't mind?"

"Of course not," Chichiri said, smiling at her. This seemed to make her blush even harder. "The others draft me for it all the time no da."

"O-Okay…" Meian took a deep breath and started.

Chichiri had to admit that she was rather good. Once she got past her initial nervousness (the first run-through was rather excessively marred by stutters and backtracking when she forgot an important point), Meian was quite a capable presenter. She clearly understood her subject, but had a knack for explaining even the most esoteric parts clearly and concisely. By the fifth time she had it down pat, and Chichiri even clapped.

"Thank you," she muttered, embarrassed.

"So who are you presenting with?" Chichiri asked.

"Who…? Oh. My classmate Brian." She tucked her hair behind one ear a little self-consciously. "That's part of the reason I really wanted to get this presentation right. He's really really smart, and always so confident about everything, I mean, I didn't want to look like a complete _idiot _while I was up there, especially since my part comes _first _and I was really worried that I was going to, and—" She took a deep breath, and realized that she was babbling. She hurriedly took a sip of her latte to calm down.

"You'll do _fine _no da." He watched her drink. Later he wasn't sure if it was the mention of this Brian, or the way she looked in that coffeehouse with her sandy hair falling all around her face, but he reached into his pocket and took out two tickets. "So, ah, your presentation is Friday no da?"

She nodded. "My last class."

"So…daa…are you free afterwards?"

She blinked. "Yes, I think so. Why?"

"Well…daa…" _God, I sound like an idiot no da. _He took a deep breath."Do you want to go to a play with me?"

Meian went, "What?"

Chichiri tugged on his ponytail. "There's this play on Friday. Nuriko's friends are in it, and he tells me it's pretty good. So I was wondering…if you were free after class Friday, maybe you would like to come no da? I mean to celebrate? With me no da?"

She stared at him. "Really?"

He nodded.

"Of course! I would love too! Thank you!"

Chichiri let out a breath, and slid out of his seat. "Great no da. So, um, pick you up at seven no da?"

"Great!" Meian watched him leave the café and smiled after him until she realized everyone was staring at her.

* * *

At six o'clock on Friday, Mai looked up and said, "Y'know, he's really not going to care what you're wearing, even if it's a lime-green tutu and a paisley overcoat."

Meian gave her a Look. "You're not helping."

The two of them were in Meian's room, where her entire wardrobe was scattered all over the floor. Mai was cramped in the little space that was still available on the bed.

"I mean," Mai went on, "how is this different from any _other _time that you see him? You don't go agonizing over what to wear every damn _day _just on the off-chance that you'll run into him, do you?" She rubbed her shoulder.

"No." Meian bit her lip. "But this is a _date._ That's _different._"

"That's just my point. He's already seen you in your normal clothes. And when you were hanging by your fingertips from the balcony—"

"Thank you very much"

"—and he still likes you." Mai made a face. "He still really _really _likes you."

"R-really?" Meian's face imitated a tomato. "Wait, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing." Mai forced her face back into a normal expression. "Since it's him. I mean, he survived being Taiitsukun's personal assistant. And the NyanNyans. So he might actually be okay. "

Meian eyed her friend. "You haven't had much luck with men, have you?"

Mai blew at her bangs. "No comment."

"Is there something wrong with your arm?" Meian asked suddenly. Mai had been rotating her shoulder slowly, first forward and then back. At Meian's question she froze.

"No."

"You sure?" Meian squinted at her friend. Mai was wearing a sweatshirt at the moment, so the med student couldn't tell if the muscle was swollen or not. "Did you hurt it while exercising or something?"

"Exercising?" Mai blinked. "Yeah, exercising. I was…trying out a new move and pulled a muscle. Be okay in a few more days. So is that what you're going to wear or what? Like I said, _he _won't care, but you've got two different pairs of socks and your skirt's on backwards."

"Eep!" Meian ducked into the bathroom to make the necessary adjustments. She fiddled with her hair, then came out again. "So? How do I look?"

Mai cocked her head to the side. Granted, she wasn't exactly a fashion maven—if it wasn't comfortable and she had to worry about getting it dirty, she didn't want it. But her friend's outfit of a knee-length plaid skirt in muted green and fitted cream turtleneck sweater with her mother's gold necklace around her neck was quite pretty.

"You look nice. And if you change again, I _will _knock you out and deliver you to your loverboy myself."

"He's not my loverboy!"

* * *

Chichiri looked at himself in the mirror. It having been…a rather long time since he had been on a date, it had also taken him a while to choose what to wear. Unlike Meian, however, he didn't draft a housemate to help. Tasuki didn't care, Tamahome would have lapsed into daydreams about himself and Miaka (even though he could have dressed like a hot dog for all his girlfriend would have cared), Mitsukake would have said nothing, and Nuriko and Hotohori had far too many opinions on the matter. He would have never made it out in time. Besides, at his age, asking someone else's opinion for clothes made him feel silly. Eventually he settled on a medium-blue v-neck sweater, a pair of khaki chinos and a slightly worn pair of loafers. He didn't want to look like he was trying _too_ hard.

Fighting a butterfly feeling in his stomach he felt entirely too old for, he drove next door and then knocked on Meian's door. There was a pause, then a thump and squeak from upstairs.

"Da?"

"Calm down! _Don't _run—Aw, fuck it. You, stay there and count to ten. _Stay._" A few seconds later, Mai opened the door. "Hi."

"Er…hi, no da." Chichiri tilted his head a little to look around her. "Is…Meian okay?"

Mai leaned against the door frame, and wrapped her arms around her against the outside cold. "Yeah. She's fine. Just…excited."

Chichiri found himself subject to one of the most intense looks he'd ever faced—save those of Taiitsukun. He sweat-dropped. "Da?"

"You do know," she said mildly, "if you hurt her in any way, _ever_, I'll going to really, really hurt you. I won't kill you, though. Meian wouldn't like that. But maiming is not out of the question."

He stared at her. Somehow, the entirely casual way she said it was more disturbing than the content. "I won't hurt her," he said solemnly. "I promise."

"You'd better not," she replied. "I don't have a lot of friends. But you survived Taiitsukun and the NyanNyans. You can't have any _major _perversions."

"Why thank you no da," Chichiri replied dryly. "I've never had such a compliment."

That startled a snort out of her. "You're welcome."

It was at that point that Meian came down the stairs, and homicidal housemates flew out of his mind.

* * *

"Kouji! It's been so fucking long, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to call you, my bestest buddy in the whole damn world. Aww, Genrou, I'm really moved, really touched. I mean, it's not like I was languishing without your brilliant presence by my side—"

"Cut the crap, Kouji. How the hell are you?"

"Not bad. Think I'm getting the hang of this college thing, though the profs still don't appreciate one-man acts in their classrooms. Wonder why."

"Been up to anything new?"

"Nah, though I tell you, Genrou, why'd you move away? Some of those girls from high school have grown up _fine. _Even Aidou—"

Gagging sounds. "God, man, don't _say _shit like that about my sister. That's fucking disgusting."

"What? It's true! We never did figure out why you hated living at home so much—those sisters of yours are—"

"One, you aren't related to them. Two, being related to them, me even _thinking _that way about them is so fucking wrong I'd need to cut off my head or something. Three, being the only boy was pure hell."

"Well, whatever. Anything new with you?"

"Not really. 'sbeen kinda boring lately, actually. I can drink pretty much anybody here under the table, save my housemates, and beat anybody up, save my housemates." Pause. "Well, someone did finally move in next door, guess that's new."

"Who?"

"Couple of chicks."

"Yeah, and?"

"Dude, what's with you? When did you get all—"

"Hey, there really wasn't much time for a hormonal explosion before, you know, what with all the stuff the Boss had us do. So spill, man."

"Hmph. Anyway, there's two of them, one a med student. Pretty I guess, and kinda nice, but so fucking nervous all the time. And sorta klutzy. I mean, she makes _me _nervous, being like that. Chichiri likes her though."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah." Snicker. "They're on their first date tonight, and you should have seen him…"

"Man, I thought he was celibate or something…"

"Hey, we call him a monk, but that doesn't mean that he actually _is _one."

"Yeah, I know. What about the other one? She pretty too?"

"Oh, her. She's like this fucking Amazon, man."

"What?"

"Really. She's as tall as I am, and a real tomboy type, you know? Kind of a bitch too. Made me reaffirm why I thought women were so damn irritating."

"Genrou, they aren't going to give you _cooties_."

"Fuck you! Anyway she's less of a bitch now. We came to an understanding."

Snicker.

"What?"

"Understanding?" Snicker.

'Get your mind of the gutter! It's not anything like that. I mean, she acts so much like a guy it's hard to—"

"Yeah, whatever. Look, me and some of the guys are going to catch a movie. Talk you later?"

"Yeah, email me or something."

Tasuki hung up the phone and looked around the empty kitchen. He was the only one in the house. Chichiri and Tamahome were both off on dates, Mitsukake was studying at a friend's, and Hotohori and Nuriko had some Shijentensho company party to go to. It was so quiet that he'd called his best friend Kouji from home just to fill the space. But of course now even Kouji had somewhere to go, and it was only seven-thirty.

Tasuki looked around. _God, this is pathetic. Friday night and got nothing to do…_

He happened to glance out the kitchen window. Across the yard there was another light on.

"Oh, hell no."

* * *

Tasuki hammered on the door again, and shifted his feet. Damn, it was cold out here. "Open up, will you?" he yelled.

There was a clattering of steps instead, and then the door was yanked open to reveal at very irate Mai. "I was in the fucking shower, asshole, what the _hell _do you—oh." She blinked. "Tasuki? What are you doing here?"

The redhead was in a similar state of surprise. Mai was standing there wearing nothing but a towel (which, white and fluffy and big enough to cover all the important bits, still seemed _far _too small) and wet hair. A _lot _of wet hair. It fell in inky black coils all over her shoulders and past her waist like someone had upended several ink pots over her head. Fragrant steam wisped into the cold air from her skin.

"Uhh…" Tasuki said inarticulately. He swallowed and fumbled at the cardboard box in his hand. "Pizza?"

"Pizza?" Mai frowned, and then looked down. Her blue eyes suddenly filled with avarice. "Ooh, _pizza." _ She nearly yanked the box out of his hands and pried the lid up. "Mmmm…" She smiled, her eyes closed in bliss. "Damn, I missed this."

Tasuki coughed pointedly.

Mai eyed him and sighed. "All right, come in." She stepped back and flung a hand toward the living room. "Put it down over there," she said vaguely, and ran back up the stairs.

Tasuki set the pizza boxes down on the coffee table and looked around. The place looked like a somewhat miniaturized version of the house he lived in, if also somewhat feminized. There were the pillows that served no purpose save be aesthetically pleasing, tissue boxes that actually matched with the décor, and those square flat blocks that you were supposed to put your drink on so it wouldn't leave rings on the table. At least the TV wasn't pretty and dainty too—this was a state of the art LCD screen with one of those BOSE sound systems hooked up. He dropped onto the couch and grabbed the remote.

He heard Mai come pounding down the stairs a few minutes later, now more conventionally clad in a pair of dull blue plaid pajama pants and a grey tank.

"You want anything to drink?" she called from the kitchen.

"Pop? Beer?" he asked, a little baffled as to why she needed to even ask the question. Then he remembered whose house he was in.

She came back to the couch carried a two liter of Coke and a two liter of Mountain Dew. "I hid them in the back," she said, "where their caffeinated horrors wouldn't contaminate Meian's Odwalla and Tropicana." She set a pair of glasses in front of them, and Tasuki was gratified to see just the tiniest grimace before putting the coasters underneath them. A stack of napkins went next to them. "No beer, though. What kind of pizza did you get?" she asked, and didn't wait for his answer before helping herself to a piece. He noticed that she did it guy-style, with her bare hands, folding it slightly and taking big, cheese, tomato sauce and pepperoni bites that had nothing to do proper etiquette at the dining table.

_Yeah, _Tasuki thought, _definitely like a guy. _Save one that had certain…bumps…that was of a certainly respectable size under her shirt. He gave himself a mental slap and reached for a piece himself before she could devour the entire pie.

They ate in silence for a while, watching Horatio Crane cock his head sideways and remove his sunglasses to utter one-liners in a CSI: Miami marathon. Mai wiped her fingers on another napkin and threw the crumple at the pile sitting in the (now empty) pepperoni box.

"Want?" the redhead asked, and pointed at the last piece of meat-lover's supreme.

She raised an eyebrow at the courtesy, and shook her head. "Nah. You take it." She took another sip of her Coke, and then grabbed the previously forgotten brush on the table to attack her hair.

Attack certainly was the verb to use, Tasuki thought as he watched her. He knew she had to have a lot of hair—that whacking great braid of hers didn't really leave that in doubt—but seeing it all down like this was really impressive. Mai tackled the knots and snarls almost like she was chopping wood, slinging the brush down and trying to hack her way through the mass.

After a few minutes of this, Mai noticed he was watching. "What?"

"Why aren't you _bald?_"

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"Give me that," Tasuki said. He crooked his fingers. "C'mon, gimme."

Frowning, Mai gave him the brush and then spun around on the couch at his further direction. "What are you doing?"

"Brushing your damn hair," he replied. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"I can brush my own fucking hair—hey!"

Tasuki grabbed her shoulder and forced her round again when she tried to grab the brush back. "You're going to go bald, you keep doing it like that," he retorted. "It's your _hair _on your _head_, not a fucking enemy to subdue by all means necessary."

"That's what you think," she snapped, but didn't turn around again. "You don't have to deal with it every day."

"If it's such a pain, why don't you cut it short?"

Mai froze. "_What? _Are you _insane?"_

"If you hate it long, why not? "

"Because…because…" Mai struggled to give a rational answer. "I—"

"Yeah, you keep thinking."

* * *

It really was a good play. Meian could see why Nuriko had recommended it to Chichiri.

The production was based a popular anime series of a few years ago, full of gallant celestial warriors, a priestess from another world, magic, and lavish "historical" costuming. The actors were a local drama group—not a professionals, with a whole touring schedule and such, but very talented amateurs. Their enthusiasm, though, was palpable throughout the whole play, and they certainly took their charge to entertain seriously.

Chichiri and Meian left the theater still talking about it, and since neither of them felt like going home yet, they took their conversation to a nearby coffee shop. Over giant java cups of hot chocolate they talked and laughed as they compared their favorite parts. Eventually, when all the cream and chocolate was gone, Meian played with her spoon and asked:

"So, do you believe in prophecies?"

Chichiri blinked. "As in destiny?" He shook his head. "No. Or," his mouth quirked, "At least I don't want to, no da. Some people take comfort in the idea that there is some grand plan, and that whatever suffering they experience now is meant for something better, but…you're still suffering, aren't you? I'd rather not believe that there is something out there that would let…bad things like that happen to people."

"Did a…bad thing happen to your eye?"

Chichiri looked up at her in surprise and unconsciously reached for his right eye. "How did you know?"

Meian looked uncomfortable. "Um…since I, er, fell on you. Whoever the doctor was, they did a really good job," she said hurriedly. "I mean, you can't hardly tell, really, though I, um, noticed." After all those years assisting her doctor parents in charity clinics, it was hard not to. She'd also noticed that Mai seemed to be coming back with more injuries over the weekends, but they hadn't escalated to dangerous levels yet so she had resisted asking directly.

"You're very observant," Chichiri distantly. He used a contact in his right eye now, to correct his vision in the damaged orb, so most people didn't notice. It was an improvement over the eyepatch he'd had to use after high school.

Meian winced at the tone, and looked down at her cup. "I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean…"

He sighed. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault."

* * *

Mai sat and fumed while Tasuki gently worked out all the knots and tangles in her hair until the brush ran through smooth. Parting it into thirds, he swiftly braided it again and tugged the elastic off her wrist to secure. Mai pulled the braid over her shoulder to eye his handiwork.

"Huh. That's…good." It was better than good. She lifted an eyebrow. "So, mister manly redhead man, where did you pick up hair-styling skills like that?"

He blinked. "Manly? You think I'm manly?"

She clearly regretted her choice of words but tried to cover by rolling her eyes. "Don't dodge the question."

"I picked it up, you know, around."

"Please, _be _just a little vaguer."

"Fine. I learned…oh, two years ago. In Hong Kong."

Her eyes snapped to his so fast he thought his eyelids stung. "No, you didn't."

He broke the look and grabbed for his glass on the table. "No," he agreed, "I didn't." Okay, it was a dirty shot, but he'd thought he'd just remind her that she wasn't the only person who had things they didn't want to talk about. Besides, that Hong Kong thing was… did she realize just how bad she was at dissembling?

As per his goal, though, she did change the subject—though not before throwing him a nasty look saying that she knew what he was doing.

"Hey," he said, and poked her shoulder.

"Ow!" Mai jumped and rubbed the muscle. "What the hell!"

Tasuki leaned forward and pulled her tank top a little out of the way, frowned and poked it again. Mai flamed up and punched him.

"Fuck!" The redhead went backward and nearly went over the couch. "What the hell was that for?" He touched his nose to make sure it wasn't bleeding—she must have pulled the punch a bit. "God, you _are _a guy." No girly slaps for _her_.

"What the fuck do you think you're _doing_?" Mai demanded.

"Where did you get that?" he pointed. There was a rather large blotch of bruised rainbow decorating her shoulder.

"Oh." She made a face and pulled her braid over it.

He gave her a Look. "Oh yeah. Like that's really going to make me forget I ever saw it."

"It's a bruise."

"Yeah, I can see that. What happened to you?"

She sighed. "Halloween. I went to a wrong side of town and got jumped by a mummy and a wizard. I beat the crap out of both, but the wizard got a lucky hit in with his staff. I broke it and made him eat it later," she added smugly.

"You ever think about anger counseling?"

"Shut up."

"Fine, the wiz explains that," he said, pointing to yellow and green bruise flower, "but what about _those?_"

Mai eyed the three parallel scrapes on her other arm. Having just scabbed over they seemed particularly angry; it looked like she had been slapped by a bear. She grimaced; being November, she had been able to wear long-sleeves to cover it and avoid Meian's notice, but she'd forgotten to grab one when Tasuki's knock surprised her in the shower. "Well, it's hard to beat someone up quietly."

"Which means what exactly?"

"Someone heard me. And saw me. And er, invited me to a…party." She scratched the back of her head. "In, uh, the city. Downtown East."

Tasuki whistled. South was friendly with some great bars, North was uptown where all the cold expensive things were, West was a mix of both, but East… Downtown East was one of the roughest parts of the city, so _down _it was said that it was close to _up. _Tasuki occasionally went down there whenever he was feeling especially bored and pissed. There were times when he _really _needed to let off steam, and a sparring with his housemates wasn't going to cut it. Plus, there were so many scumbags down there that needed beating he hardly needed to aim. It wasn't somewhere you went for a…

"What _kind _of party?"

She sighed. "A tournament. It was kind of fun, actually. I mean, most of them were so drunk that it was hardly a challenge to beat them. But I mean…it was kinda like home, actually. I didn't think they'd had places like that here." She gave herself a little shake. "Anyway, I still go back occasionally. Only last time I was up against some crazy-ass wolf-man. Hairy as fuck, and pretty dumb, but damned fast and strong."

"Ashitare…"

"What?"

"Nothing." Tasuki filed that away. So the blond bastard was still using his pet, huh? Wonder how much he lost on the betting since Mai (since she was still alive) apparently won.

* * *

The cheerful mood gone and their hot chocolate finished, Chichiri and Meian left the coffee shop and drove back. Chichiri parked the car at his house and was gracious enough to walk with Meian around the corner to her place. But the atmosphere was still awkward and neither of them spoke.

Meian was, of course, blaming herself. What had she been thinking, asking about his eye? Did she _expect _him to tell her "oh yes, nearly losing my eye was the best thing to ever happy to me"? And things were going so well…

But Meian was clumsy when she _was _paying attention.

"Aaahh!"

Meian's yelp jarred Chichiri out of his own thoughts and he spun around too slow to catch her as she slipped on a piece of ice.

Foomph.

Luckily she landed backward into a heavy snowdrift. The feathery snow blew up around her like she'd hit a giant bag of flour—it settled in a light film over her face and body, making her look like a green-eyed doughbaby. She blinked and coughed. For a minute they just stared at each other.

It really was terrible—Chichiri was sure that he was turning blue from trying not to laugh. And he shouldn't _want _to laugh…the whole date was going wrong and she had slipped on the ice and really could have hurt herself…but her _face_ when all that snow had flown up and—

Suddenly she began moving her arms and legs around in a circle. At first Chichiri thought that she flailing around at first, and reached out an arm to help her when she sat up on her own and stood up. Brushing the snow off the back of her coat, she cocked her head to one side and examined her handiwork. She looked at him shyly. "What do you think?"

"Da?" Chichiri looked back at her in bewilderment and then turned back to the snowdrift. He realized that the impression she had made in the snow, she'd turned into a…snow angel?

"It's been a while since I've made one," Meian was saying. She fidgeted again. It was childish, she knew, to still like making snow angels, but she didn't know what else to do. She _really _liked Chichiri—if this whole blunder was caused by her being stupid enough to bring up something painful from Chichiri's past, then she had to change the subject. To…uh…snow angels.

"I used to whenever there was snow. I mean, I didn't get to see snow a lot. We usually…m-my parents and I...were usually in some place hot. That uh, didn't snow. So snow was a big thing for me. I used to go running outside in it all the time. When it was there. Sometimes without shoes on, even, because I liked to feel it crunch between my toes." _God, I'm babbling._

"Really no da."

Meian didn't dare look at him. "Not of course that I would do that now, I mean, that's not medically sound, I could've gotten pneumonia or something. But I did really like making snow angels and—"

Chichiri fell over.

"What? Ah!" Meian began to panic before she realized that he had actually fallen backward, not over, and on purpose, not by accident. "Umm…Chichiri?" Baffled, she watched as he began to move this arms and legs around in a familiar sweeping motion.

"Hmm," he said after standing up again and examining his angel with a critical eye. "Not as good as yours, no da. But then I was always better at making snowmen no da."

She looked at him in shock for a second and then began to laugh. "Come on then," she said, a little giddy in relief. "I know the perfect place to put one."

* * *

"You know," Tasuki said, "if you really need someone to spar with that badly, you don't have to go to Downtown East to do it."

"Yeah?" Mai lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah. You can just ask me. Or actually, any of my housemates, depending on what you're feeling."

"What, any of them?"

"Er…maybe not Mitsukake, though he's great on the basketball court. But Hotohori—"

Mai rolled her eyes. "Oh come _on. _Like Mr. I'm So Beautiful They Need to Create a New Bishounen Category does anything that could ruin a nail."

"No, seriously. He's the school fencing champion."

"…what?"

"Yeah. Of course, he works out in Armani sweats or whatever, but he's good if you want a little sword-work done. And Nuriko's fucking awesome at weight-training and wrestling. That is," Tasuki amended, "if you don't mind someone putting your arms back in their fucking sockets afterward."

Mai was plainly trying to picture the willowy violette in any situation involving sweat and huge barbells and failing.

Oblivious, Tasuki continued. "And Chichiri's actually not bad with the staff. And Tamahome and me are the Kung Fu Fucking Kings. Me more than him, of course."

"Okay…" Mai still looked skeptical. "If you say so."

This time Tasuki rolled his eyes. "Yes, I fucking say so. It's gotta be better than kicking the shit out of strangers and getting slapped around by a wolf-man, right?" Pause. "Okay, kicking the shit out of strangers can be fun. But not healthily so."

She glared at him. "I was _not _slapped around."

Tasuki glanced at her arm and then back at her.

She opened her mouth, closed it, and then crossed her arms and…

Tasuki stared. "Are you pouting?"

"What? No! Fuck! Ow!" When she had crossed her arms, her hand had landed on the wolf-slap.

Tasuki watched her in amusement. "I'm amazed. You can actually pout—"

"I did _not—_"

"—and do something girly. I was wondering if you had any estrogen in you at all."

"Oh, fuck you," Mai said. "I—what the hell was that?"

"What? What's wrong?"

Mai ignored her and went to the bay window. She rubbed at the glass and then peered outside. "Hey, is that…Meian?"

"Yeah…" Tasuki said. "And Chichiri? What are they doing?" He squinted through the glass. "Hey, is that a snowman they've put on your lawn?"

* * *

Oblivious, outside Meian and Chichiri continued chasing each other around. The lawn was not only now home to a little snowman, but also an entire flock of angels. The angels, however, were rapidly being returned to plain snow as Meian and Chichiri threw snowballs at each other. Well, snow fluffs since neither of them were taking the time to shape the precipitation into spheres anymore. When asked later, neither of them would be able to tell who started it, or who the winner was.

They would remember how it ended though—surprisingly, this time it was Chichiri who slipped and fell backward. Meian, who was chasing after her, had her hand stretched out and he grabbed at it. This, of course, resulted in them both going down and Chichiri let out a faint "Whooff!" as most of the air was knocked out of both of them.

They lay there for a moment, before Meian recovered sufficiently enough to struggle upward and say, "Are you all right?"

Chichiri looked up at her flushed face and decided that there were worse things than having wet snow trickle into his collar after having the breath knocked out of him. "I'm fine no da."

"Are you sure? I-I mean, I wouldn't want you to get a concussion again…" Meian trailed off and blushed at the memory of the last time she'd…ended up…on top…of…him. Oh god, their faces were really close.

Chichiri reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of her face and she forgot how to move.

"Ah HEM."

Meian gave a squeak of fright and flew backward so fast she slipped on another patch of ice and nearly fell backward herself before Chichiri sat up quickly and grabbed her hand.

"Careful no da!"

"S-sorry," Meian said, beet red and yet…somehow very annoyed.

"Having fun?"

This time it was Chichiri that looked up in surprise. "Tasuki? What are you doing here?"

"Uh…" The redhead opened his mouth and then paused. He looked at Mai, who was wrapping her arms around her coat against the cold. "Pizza?"

"Pizza no da?" Chichiri echoed.

"Look, who cares why he's over?" Mai said. She pointed at Chichiri. "You, no kissing on the first date! Wait until the second at least, for fuck's sake."

"Mai!" Meian shot up at that, and somehow kept her balance. "W-what are you—"

"You _are _going to take her out again, aren't you?" Mai demanded, ignoring Meian.

"Er…" Chichiri blinked. "Of course." He looked at Meian. "That is, if you want to no da?"

"What? You still want to…even though I… I mean, yes! Yes, I want to."

"Okay no da. When are you free next?"

"I-I d-don't know, I'll, er, have to check my schedule and let you know. T-thank you."

"Don't thank me, no da." He paused, leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Good night. Come one, Tasuki."

The redhead was about to automatically bristle and being ordered off when he looked at Meian (who seemed about to combust in happiness or embarrassment or both). "Yeah, yeah." He glanced at Mai. "Next time, it's your turn. I like meat-lover's, sausage, or pepperoni, but none of those damn pineapples, okay?"

"What? Get your own damn pizza!"

"And bring some movies, okay? I am NOT a Horatio Caine fan."

Mai flipped him the finger, which he ignored and walked off with Chichiri. She thought about sticking out her tongue too, but decided it was too childish.

"Yo," she said to Meian, and waved a hand in front of her face. "Anybody home? You gonna come in or what?"

Meian, who had been standing there with her hand to her cheek came sputtering back to life. "You!"

"What?"

"Just…you! Who do you think you are? You're not my mother!"

Mai let out a low whistle. "Wow, you really like this guy, don't you? And anyway," she added before Meian could comment, "I got you a second date, didn't I?"

The med student was about to protest that she could've gotten that on her own, but then again that memory of major awkwardness before the magic of snow angels reared its head and smashed her confidence to pieces. In all likelihood she still would've gotten another date on her own, but she would have agonized over it for days while first waiting for him to call, and then screwing up the courage to ask him again her own. Mai, despite the very annoying, blunt, and interfering way she did, did manage to save her friend a lot of emotional turmoil.

"Thank you," Meian managed.

"You're welcome."

"But—"

"Yeah, yeah." Mai waved a hand. "I'll stay out of it from now on." She had already delivered the ultimatum anyway. And what did she, really, know about dating. Except…a very dark scowl passed over her face before she shook it off. "Come on, let's go inside. It's fucking freezing out here. And," mental sigh, "you can tell me how it went."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I still hold no copyright papers in my possession. Dammit.

Author's note: Slightly longer chappie this time, and some hints about those two years in Hong Kong.

**Chapter 7**

Taiitsukun looked at the folder strewn all over her desk. She tapped a pen and looked at the NyanNyan.

"Are you sure? This information is accurate?"

The little blue-haired girl looked indignant. "Of course! NyanNyan does good work!"

Taiitsukun sighed. Of course the NyanNyan did. Taiitsukun wouldn't have created them otherwise. Still… "That silly girl is still bothering me about this, you know."

The NyanNyan looked uncomfortable. "NyanNyan also. NyanNyan knows that she wants to go back."

"Why, I don't know. Certainly her living conditions are much better now…doubtless its some deep-seated psychological issue from her childhood."

The NyanNyan looked puzzled and cocked her head. "Should NyanNyan schedule a psych appointment?"

Taiitsukun snorted. "No. God no. That would make it worse, knowing her. But what on earth did she _do?_" She sent the NyanNyan a look when the little girl opened her mouth. "Oh, I know what the file _says._ But nothing Mai did would warrant the _triad _still having an open kill order on her head. She wasn't even _involved _with the real triad, just some two-bit pig with a Lolita/school-girl perversion who somehow managed to convince a lot of other idiots to follow him." Taiitsukun began tapping her pen again. "There's something else going on here."

* * *

Mai sat bolt upright in her bed, breathing heavily. The alarm clock blinked a red 12:30 am at her from her desk and she realized it had just been a dream.

"Shit," she muttered and rubbed a hand over her eyes. She took several deep breaths to force herself to calm down; it figured that the night after exams, the first time she could get a decent sleep in _days, _she would be plagued by nightmares. Mai looked down and noticed that she was holding a knife in her hand; apparently she had drawn in from under her pillow when she woke up. It was bigger than the pocketknife she usually carried…one that she assumed Taiitsukun didn't know about or she probably would have mentioned it by now. Grimacing, Mai reached under her pillow for the sheath and suddenly shivered.

"The hell?" She rubbed her shoulders, trying to warm them. It was strangely _cold _in this room, far colder than a normal winter's night should be. Did the heater give out…? Well, it was an old house… Getting up, she flipped the light switch—and nothing happened. Frowning, she tried again. Still nothing. _All _the power was off? A strange prickling sensation ran down her spine, and she carefully padded across the room to the doors leading to her balcony. She listened hard, then edged outside to scan the yard and the rooftop. No one. Coming back inside, she repeated the procedure for the hallway outside her bedroom door, with the same results, but she still wasn't satisfied. She yanked a sweatshirt and a pair of socks over her pajama and went next door.

Meian was still sleeping, as expected; she had gotten even less sleep than Mai that week, since she wanted to do more than just _pass _her tests. It took a particularly hard shake to wake her.

"Mai, wha—" A cold hand clapped over her mouth. Mai removed it and held a finger up to her own lips. "Mai, what's going on?" Meian whispered. "What are you—" She broke off as she shivered. "Why is it so cold?"

Mai went to Meian's closet and tossed the first sweater she found there onto the bed. "C'mon, put that on an' get up."

Meian frowned, still not understanding. She noted that Mai's voice had changed. It had a stronger, rougher accent—more like when she had first met her in middle school. "Mai, what is it?"

"Power's out," Mai replied, saying nothing of what else she was thinking. "You're gonna freeze if you stay there, so let's go down to the living room." She peered around the doorway carefully.

"Okay…" Meian pulled the sweater on over her nightgown, and shuffled her feet into slippers. Joining Mai, she saw the metallic glint in her friend's hand. "Mai, what is this?" she demanded.

"Okay, I think it's safe-what?" Mai looked down and cursed. She still held the knife in her hand.

Meian recognized that knife. "Mai—"

Loud knocks from downstairs made them both jump. Someone yelled but the words were muffled. They recognized the voices though.

"It sounds like…Chichiri and Tasuki," Meian said.

Mai grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her out into the hall, then edged carefully down the stairs. At the bottom, Mai scanned the first floor again, ignoring a second set of knocks. Only then she went to the doorway (keeping Meian behind her at all times) and silently thanked Taiitsukun for putting them in a place with a peephole. It _was _Tasuki and Chichiri standing outside, and she didn't see or sense anybody else around them. She opened the door a fraction. "Yeah?"

"Your power out too?" Tasuki asked.

Mai nodded.

"It's like that all up and down the street," Chichiri said, "and we can't get through to the company no da. So we were wondering—"

"All up an' down?" Mai asked. "Not just us?"

"Yes," Chichiri said, frowning at the sudden relief on Mai's face.

"Phew," Mai breathed and pulled the door open wider so they could see a sleepy looking Meian behind her

Giving Mai a funny look, Chichiri continued. "Anyway, we were wondering if you two would like to come over no da. It'll be easier to keep warm that way."

The two women looked at each other. "That'll be wonderful," Meian answered.

They arrived next door a few minutes later. Everyone else had already camped out around the table in the living room, and shifted to make more room. With the addition of Mai and Meian's blankets, there was enough for them to share between every two. Tasuki had brought his tessen down as well, and Chichiri spelled the heat charm on it to glow dully instead of breaking out into flame. Putting it under the table and draping a blanket out it, they could stick their feet under and keep relatively warm. For some strange reason, Mai also brought an ornate-looking mirror about the size of a tea saucer and was banging on the side of it like a bad TV aeriel.

"What is that?" Nuriko asked.

"One of Taiitsukun's mirrors," Mai replied absently. She shook it. "C'mon, you damn thing—hey!"

"Mai-Mai?"

Everyone jumped as another voice came from the mirror. "Was that…a NyanNyan no da?" Chichiri asked.

"Hey," Mai said, ignoring the people crowding around her. "Is Taiitsukun there?"

The image of the NyanNyan shook its head. "No, Taiitsukun's off on business."

"Business?" Mai echoed. "The hell? Why—never mind. I don't care. But what's the deal here, eh? The damn power's out and it's fucking freezing! Call the company and ask 'em how long it's gonna take."

"Okay!" The Nyan Nyan's image vanished

"So that's one of Taiitsukun's famous mirrors," Hotohori commented. "Did your…grandmother give it to you?"

Mai was about to retort that she wasn't her grandmother when the NyanNyan reappeared. "NyanNyan back!"

"I can see that. What'd they say?"

"NyanNyan go see power company guy and he said, 'AAAHHH! You nearly give me heart attack!'. Then NyanNyan say—"

"Okay, okay, just tell me how long we have to wait before the power's back on."

The little girl looked miffed at having her story interrupted, but complied. "They tell NyanNyan the transformers are covered in ice. It will take a few hours to fix."

Everyone groaned.

"NyanNyan can go help them fix," the NyanNyan offered. "NyanNyan good at fixing things!"

"No!" Mai said quickly, in tandem with Chichiri who also had experience with NyanNyans and mechanical repairs. "No, that's okay, let them handle it. Thanks, NyanNyan."

The NyanNyan saluted and the mirror went blank.

"Well, looks like we're stuck here for awhile," Nuriko said. He suddenly reached behind him and pulled out several glass bottles. "Nuriko Specials all around!"

"Hey, those are mine!" Tasuki protested.

Tamahome and Hotohori turned a little pale; they had been on the receiving end of one of Nuriko's infamous Specials before. "Nuriko…I'm not sure that's a good idea…"

"Oh, don't be a party pooper, Hotohori-kun. Meian-san would like to try one, wouldn't she?"

Meian sweat-dropped, not liking being put on the spot. "Er…"

* * *

"So…what're you doing for Christmas?"

Mai turned her head to look over at Tasuki. It was almost dawn and the two of them were the only ones left awake; Mai was leaning back against the couch cushions with her black braid coiled like a snake behind her. She gave him a sardonic look. "That's gotta be the most pathetic question ever. Why don't you ask me what the weather's like while you're at it?"

He glared at her. "I'm making conversation. Maybe you've heard of it?"

She snorted and shifted to sit up straight.

"So what _are_ you doing for Christmas?"

"Nothing."

"What d'you mean, nothing?"

"I _mean, _nothing. I'm just staying here."

"What?" Tasuki looked surprised. "Seriously? Aren't you going to go over to Taiitsukun's or something?"

Mai snorted. "No way. Not if I can help it." She looked over at him. "Would _you _want to spend two weeks with the old hag?

"Why not? She's got that fucking enormous house, doesn't she? You wouldn't have to hardly see her."

"Yeah, right. With mirrors in every room? She'd be spying on me the whole damn time, I know it. _Then, _there'd be all those NyanNyans everywhere doing the same. No thank you."

"What about the rest of your family? Can't you stay with them?"

"What is this, Twenty Questions? Besides, I'm adopted, remember? I don't _have _any other family." Before he could ask about that too, she fired off a question of her own. "So, what about you? What're _you _doing for the holidays?"

Tasuki made a face. "Wish _I _could stay here. No, I'm going home. All those damn women."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In _my _house, I'm the only guy. There's just Ma, and my five older sisters."

"Five—" Mai stared at him, and then burst out laughing.

"Hey, what the hell's so damn funny?" Tasuki demanded, nettled.

"You have _five—_" Mai couldn't finish and doubled over in laughter. It always astonished him when she actually _laughed, _and not just smirked. Amazing what the emotion did to her face; all those sharp angles softened and lit up. Of course, since her mirth was often at _his _expense, he didn't fully appreciate it

Mai finally stopped and wiped her eyes. "Oh God, that explains a lot. So what happened to your dad?"

Tasuki shrugged. "I don't know."

"What? How can you not _know_?"

"Well, he split before I was born. I never met him."

"Oh." She paused. "Sorry." And she actually did look sorry—or maybe that was just residual Nuriko Special in his system.

"Whatever." Tasuki drained the last of the beer and stuck the empty can on the table. "It doesn't really matter much to me anymore."

"Why—" Mai began, and then stopped. Perhaps remembering her own aversion to personal questions.

Tasuki yawned, and looked at his watch. "Shit, it's late," he muttered. "I think I'll knock off. Pass me one of those pillows, would ya?"

Mai tossed one at him, and soon after succumbed herself.

* * *

"Aww, isn't that cute?"

"_I _thought they didn't like each other."

"Well, to be fair, she _has _been acting nicer lately—oh, she's waking up."

Mai opened her eyes to see grinning faces looking down at her and almost groaned. Though she was more of a morning person than her friend Meian, she shared the universal dislike of bright, cheerful faces when she herself didn't share the same emotion. She opened her mouth next, presumably to tell said faces to fuck off when she realized what she had been using as a pillow. She shot up quickly and ended up knocking herself back into Tasuki's lap when her skull collided with the coffee table.

"Goddamnit…_oww…_" she said and felt murderous. They just wouldn't stop _grinning…_

Tasuki woke up at this, and blinked blearily around. "Wha-?"

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty."

"Shuddup, Bakahome," Tasuki muttered, rubbing his eyes. "When th'lights come back on?"

"Around 6 'o'clock no da," Chichiri told him.

Tasuki tried to stand up and was hampered by the weight in his lap. "The hell? Hey! Get off!"

"What do you think I'm _trying _to do?" Mai shot back. She sat up again, more carefully this time. Tasuki stood up and immediately wished he hadn't. He clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Bathroom's that way," Hotohori pointed, looking amused. Tasuki ran off and they winced at the next sounds they heard.

"Hangover," Tamahome said, with a smirk.

Nuriko looked at him. "_I _seem to remember somebody _else _wasn't feeling too hot either until he begged Mits to Heal him…"

* * *

After everyone ate breakfast (almost everyone; Tasuki still looked a little green), Mai and Meian gathered their blankets and returned next door. Soon after that, people began their exodus out of the two houses; it _was _the first day of the holiday vacation, after all, and they need to get going. All except for Mai, that is, who just waved her friend off at the door. Meian, despite Mai's heated assertions that being alone was no great hardship, felt a twinge of guilt as she said goodbye—but when she phoned on Christmas Eve, her friend seemed fine. Therefore, when Mai opened the front door the day Meian returned, she was in for a shock.

"Mai! What happened? Y-you…you look…" Meian stuttered. _Dead _was the word she was looking for, but that wasn't the sort of thing you say to a friend after leaving them home alone for two weeks. But Mai did indeed resemble a corpse in every way save the most important: her face was deathly pale but for a feverish flush in her cheeks; her normally snapping blue eyes were dull and watery; she was shivering a little, even while swathed in an enormous blanket; and her black hair hung in limp strands around her face. Mai opened her mouth to say something and immediately fell into a fit of coughing. Instinctively, Meian reached out with a hand already glowing green with Healing energy.

"No!" A pink bubble dropped between Mai and Meian, releasing a NyanNyan when it popped. Meian stared at her in surprise.

"NyanNyan? What on earth are you—"

"Meian must not Heal MaiMai!" the NyanNyan said, standing squarely in between them with an uncharacteristically forbidding expression on her face.

"Okay…" Meian said, puzzled. "But why…?"

Mai laughed, a hoarse dry sound that Meian mistook for more coughs at first. Her voice was even worse, worn to a rasping thread. "'Cause th'hag wants me t'suffer, tha's why." Then she really did start coughing. Alarmed, Meian and the NyanNyan helped Mai back to the couch to lie down. Another NyanNyan came in from the kitchen carrying a bottle of cough syrup and a glass of water. Mai looked at the medicine in distaste but downed it nevertheless. Meian jumped as there was a large bang from outside.

"Oh no, my luggage!" She had forgotten about it. Hurriedly standing up, she stared in surprise at the three other NyanNyans who were trying to pull the suitcases up the stairs. "How many of you _are _there?"

"Kyaa!" One of the NyanNyans lost her grip in the luggage handle and went tumbling down the stairs.

"Oh dear…" Meian hurried over and helped the little girl up. "Here, I can take care of the rest of that…" The second of the trio hopped down to "fix fix!" her fallen comrade while Meian helped the remaining one carry the rest of her stuff up. By the time they had finished doing that, Mai had fallen asleep.

* * *

Mai stayed asleep for the next few hours, hours Meian spent finding out just what had happened to her friend. It wasn't easy; if Meian had to choose between a NyanNyan or a goldfish for the shortest attention span, it would be a tough choice. Especially when they knew sugar was in the house, though blessedly locked up by Taiitsukun before she had left.

Yes, Taiitsukun had come earlier, to check on her former ward, but couldn't stay—pressing business matters, of course. Meian would have been indignant on Mai's behalf if it were not for the fact that she knew better. Taiitsukun wouldn't have sent a quintet of her personal aides for anyone else.

Anyway, between Meian's and the NyanNyan's efforts they moved Mai off the couch and into her bedroom. It took some doing, but less than it might have normally. For one, Mai was as dead to the world as she could be without actually being dead, a state Meian had rarely seen her in; Mai was one of those people who slept with the proverbial one eye open. For two, Mai had lost weight since Meian had seen her last. At five ten, Mai wasn't exactly a lightweight and definitely not dainty (she'd give you one in the eye if you ever called her that), but she tended toward leanness and the weight loss pushed her toward the skinny.

It was one of the NyanNyans that came to get Meian when Mai finally began to stir; one of them stayed at Mai's side all the time, freeing the others and Meian to do the other things that needed doing. Meian thanked the little girl and made up a tray of hot soup and a cup of tea, carrying it very slowly up the stairs so her general klutziness wouldn't kick in. She nudged the bedroom door open with her foot to see Mai sitting up on her futon with the NyanNyan behind her, industriously fluffing pillows. Meian carefully set up the tray table over her friend's lap.

"Thanks," Mai told her, and began to eat. The sleep appeared to have done her some good; she didn't look quite as pale and the bags under her eyes had faded somewhat.

Meian watched her eat in silence for a while and then blurted out, "I'm sorry."

Mai blinked and looked over at her in surprise. The soupspoon was halfway to her mouth. "What?"

"Mai, I'm so sorry," Meian repeated, looking miserable. "I should have stayed with you. I don't know how I could have forgot, I mean, we're friends aren't we, I should have remembered but I didn't and then you—"

"Oh." Mai held up a hand to stop her friend's babbling. The spoon returned to the bowl with a chink. "The NyanNyans told you, didn't they? I _told _them not to," she said, sending a narrow-eyed look at the one in the room.

"Yes. Mai, I'm so—"

"Look, it wasn't your fault that I was so stupid," Mai snapped, looking annoyed. "Besides, I'm the _last _person who would tell you not to go home. So there's nothing to be sorry for."

"But—"

It had been the first NyanNyan that had told Meian, the one she assumed was the leader of this bunch. Mai had indeed been fine on Christmas Eve, when Meian had called, and even on Christmas Day when Taiitsukun had made a mirror call. In the days between Christmas and New Year's, however, Mai had a serious downturn in mood. It was extremely fortunate that on New Year's Day, Taiitsukun decided to make a personal visit; she found her former ward passed out in the backyard, without so much as a hat, coat or gloves on—or even shoes for that matter. By the looks of things, Mai had been like that for most of the previous night, since her clothes were soaked through and she was even covered with a fine layer of snow. A number of empty liquor bottles lay scattered around her and they saw even more covering every available bit of counter-space inside. Mai _reeked _of drink, which was extremely out of character—Mai rarely drank any alcohol and virulently hated drunks. However, it appeared that she had been doing just that for the past three days.

In addition to her considerable Spell Gift, Taiitsukun had a Healing capacity as well, though she needed the NyanNyans to give her a boost. With their help, she managed to cast enough spells to keep Mai from dying of exposure and save all her appendages from frostbite—but not from pneumonia. _That _was the reason that the NyanNyan had stopped Meian before: Mai was already stuffed so full of Healing spells (many of which the NyanNyans had to renew each day) that another, especially from a different caster, could react adversely to previous ones.

That was two days ago, and the NyanNyan had said that Mai was looking much better from when they had first discovered her. Meian had shuddered; this was _better?_

"It's not your fault," Mai repeated. "I _always _get so fucking depressed around this time of year, whether you're there or not. It was just worse this year."

"Yes, I know." Meian looked over at Mai's desk, where a small picture and a black mortuary tablet stood. The NyanNyan had said that they had found the tablet clutched in Mai's hand. "But maybe, if I had been there, I could have…stopped you…"

Mai sighed. "Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know." She changed the subject. "Hey, so how'd holidays with the 'rents go?"

"What? Oh, as usual. My mother started a new charity project…" Meian detailed her mother's newest charity escapade to Mai—her parents, though they had retired from their activist globetrotting days, still were very much "cause" addicts. Sometime Mai wondered how Meian could have come from them; while she shared the same drive to help others, her parents were enthusiastically loud and effusive to excess. Still, they were always good for a laugh.

It took some time for Mai to recover fully—perhaps because she got sick so rarely that it made the times she did that much worse. Her behavior as a patient also deteriorated as time wore on, mostly because Mai so very much hated having to depend on anyone for anything and being treated as an invalid. As soon as she got the strength to do so, she began insisting that she was fine and moving restlessly around the house—Meian had a heck of a job getting her to rest. Taiitsukun even threatened to have some of the NyanNyans sit on top of her more than once.

* * *

"HaCHOO!"

"That's fucking _disgusting,_" Tasuki grimaced. Mai gave him the finger before accepting a tissue from Chiriko.

"Dank you," she told the little genius thickly and wiped her nose.

"You _really _don't look so good," Nuriko commented. "You _sure _you shouldn't still be in bed?"

Mai was about to answer when Kazuki came in and class started. To tell the truth, she really _shouldn't _have come to school that day, owing to an overwhelming sensation of feeling like crap, but there was no way she was about to spend another day in bed. The NyanNyans were driving her nuts, and she was suffocating under Meian's worried smothering. She _needed _to get out, even if that meant suffering under Kazuki again, but her condition got steadily worse. The near incessant sneezing, coughing and seesawing body temperatures taxed her already abbreviated academic attention span beyond repair. She spend all her energy either forcing herself not to pass out or glaring at classmates who seemed annoyingly fascinated by the germ factory in their midst.

Lunchtime came and Mai stumbled outside, the cold hitting her fevered brow like a slap in the face. She shivered and fumbled for the zipper on her coat; the books in her hands slipped. Cursing, she knelt to retrieve them only to have another explosive sneezing fit.

Another pair of hands swam into view; Mai rubbed her watering eyes and focused on Tasuki, who was picking up the fallen books while Tamahome offered her a hand up. They had been heading to the cafeteria when they had spotted their neighbor and her predicament.

"You look like shit," Tasuki told her as he brushed the snow off and handing her back her books.

The reluctant gratitude she had been feeling evaporated on the spot. "Shut up," she snarled, grabbing her things and shoving the damp objects in her backpack before they could fall again. She took a tissue from another pocket and blew her nose.

Tasuki stared at her hands. "Where are your gloves?"

"Shut _up,_" she snapped again. No way in hell was she going to tell him that sometime during her morose drinking binge, she had decided that wool mittens were an acceptable substitute for incense.

"You really don't look so good," Tamahome said, though in a rather nicer tone. "Want us to walk you home? Free of charge."

Tasuki gave his friend an incredulous look.

Going back was actually seeming like a better and better idea all the time, despite her feelings that morning, but damned if she was going to be walked there like a child. "No thanks," she told Tamahome. "I'll—whoa." The world suddenly seemed to spin. "Uh." She threw an arm out and grabbed the nearest object the steady herself—which turned out to be Tasuki's face when she opened her eyes again. She released him as if he burned and longed to wipe that supercilious look off his face, as well as dump a bucket of gray paint over both the young men's heads. Shit, but did they _have _to dress that brightly? And what was with that _hair _anyway?

"I can make it home by myself," she ground out finally, and spun on her heel to stalk off. And would have, save the sudden movement amplified the pounding in her head, made her vision go spotty, and her feet slipping on a inconveniently placed patch of ice.

"You're fucking hopeless," a voice growled in her ear. Tasuki had caught her from behind. "Tama, you go ahead. I'm taking Miss Idiotically Pig-headed home." And with that, he grabbed her arm and began pulling her forward.

"Hey—what—wait! I can walk by myself, you fucker! Lemme go—"

Tamahome watched in mixed bemusement and amusement as Mai's strident tones faded into the distance. The latter eventually won out and he grinned. "Wait 'til the others hear about _this._"

* * *

After about a block, Mai managed to wrench free of the redhead's grasp. "I can walk _on my own,_" she snapped, her voice sounding strangely strangled. Annoyed, she coughed and was repulsed by the faint movement of mucus in her throat.

Tasuki scowled and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Fine." A cold wind blew through and he watched her shiver. God, but how he hated his sense of chivalry. Giving a disgusted snort, he stripped off his scarf and wrapped it around her before she could protest and then grabbed her hands. "Are you a fucking moron? Where're your gloves?" He pulled off his own and pushed them over her cold fingers.

"You know, even when you're being nice, you're an ass," Mai told him sourly. "And what about you now? Aren't you gonna freeze?"

"As if. I grew up in the mountains, remember? I'm used to this. Besides, _I_ don't have a cold. How'd you _get _so sick anyway?"

Mai felt her cheeks heat with something else besides fever. She buried her chin in the borrowed scarf, feeling the redhead's residual body heat. She mumbled something into it.

"What was that?"

Her head popped out like an irate tortoise. "I was drunk, okay?"

"Drunk?" he echoed. "I thought you didn't drink." He remembered being surprised by that (and by her _effective_ refusal) during Nuriko's attempts to get everyone shitfaced on his deadly Nuriko Specials during that blackout.

Her cheeks were definitely red now. "I don't. Well, I mean, I don't but I _did."_

"And?"

"And…I passed out in the backyard and didn't wake up until the next morning." _After having convinced myself that I could recall spirits from the fucking dead if I lined up the beer, wine, and whisky bottles just right while waving a pair of flaming mittens in lieu of incense. _Most of her three-day bender was lost in an alcoholic haze, but she _did _remember that part. Unfortunately.

They reached her house. Mai fumbled with the house key and unlocked the front door, but froze two steps beyond the threshold. Maybe the germs were affecting her usual paranoia, but something didn't feel right…

Behind her, Tasuki tried to crane his neck around to see why she had stopped. "Hey, what's the holdup?" he demanded. His stomach had decided that enough was enough and was now reminding him that he was missing his lunch break because of misplaced chivalrous instincts.

Mai was about to tell him to shut up so she could try and feel out the presence through her mucus clogged senses when something dropped rather heavily on _top _of her head and she went down. Cursing inwardly, wishing she still had her gun (_any _of her guns, she wasn't real picky right now), she struggled up, spat out a mouthful of carpet, and whipped out her pocketknife—only to have it promptly taken from her. _Oh God… _Was there a more embarrassing way to die? In the entryway of her own residence, sitting on the horrifically cheerful Welcome mat that Meian had insisted they get, dribbling green snot out of her nose and coughing up more…

Hey. Shouldn't she be dead by now?

There was a deep rumbling sigh, and then an even deeper rumbling bass voice said, "_Shiao hai, ni bun dun."_

Eh? Wait…she knew that voice.

"Shan?"

* * *

Tasuki was confused. Extremely, extremely confused.

What the hell was going on? On minute he was wondering what was taking Mai so damn long to unblock the doorway so he could possibly salvage the rest of the lunch hour eating the remnants of Meian's last baking extravaganza (he could smell the cookies from here), and the next a couch cushion had dropped on Mai's head, knocking her on her ass. Even in her condition, he fully expected at least an attempt at full, blown out bitch attack, claws extended, on her assailant and he wasn't disappointed. Out came the knife she always carried with her (usually it was carefully hidden amid the folds of her clothing, but Tasuki spotted it easily due to his past gang days), and then the lunge—and the ecstatic OOC squeals of happiness, jabbering in rapidfire Chinese and _hugging. _Mai, _hugging. _What universe had he dropped into?

And the guy she was hugging (another OOC thing; Mai, hugging a _guy?_)… It wasn't as if he hadn't seen people that tall before—he couldn't be taller than Mitsukake—but he was also nearly as broad. A freaking wall of muscle, with the requisite bulging biceps, tree trunk legs and massive feet in black combat boots. Tasuki wondered briefly how such a giant had even gotten through the front door.

"Someone mind tellin' me what the hell's going on?" he demanded finally, when it became clear that he had been completely forgotten.

Mai broke off whatever she had been saying, and look back at him in surprise. "Eh? Tasuki? Oh. Uh…" She looked back at the giant, who lifted an eyebrow. She scowled. "No, he ain't. He's my neighbor." She sighed. "Shan, this's Tasuki. Tasuki, this's Shan. He's a friend of mine, from China."

Shan bent forward a little and extended a hand to the redhead. "A pleasure to meet you," he rumbled politely. His Japanese was perfectly passable, if accented.

Tasuki took the hand and shook it, then glanced curiously over at Mai. With a name like hers, he figured that she was Chinese, but she never talked about it. Actually, she never mentioned having any friends at all, save Meian. In fact, as he watched her chatter away again in Chinese at this Shan guy, he realized he had never seen her look so animated. Tasuki was feeling curiously left out here. "Err…" he said uncomfortably, and edged toward the door. "I'm gonna, uh, go now…"

Mai jumped as the door slammed and saw Shan give her a significant look. "What?"

He continued to give her the look. "He seemed very nice," he told her in Chinese. "And he did bring you home. You should be nicer to him."

"What, Tasuki?" Mai replied in the same language. "He's used to me being a bitch, he's—stop looking at me like that!" She threw up her hands. "This is why I hate arguing with you, you always make me feel so damn—fine, fine, I'll apologize later. Happy?" She glared him, but the effect was somewhat spoiled by the gigantic sneeze that came a second later.

Shan sighed and handed her a tissue box. She grabbed it and went into the kitchen to dispose of the used Kleenex. Shan followed her and leaned against the counter.

"So c'mon," Mai said after blowing her nose. "Spill. Whatcha doin' here?"

Shan raised an eyebrow again, a surprisingly intellectually subtle movement given his size. "Why not? Do you object?"

Mai frowned. "You know damn well why not. I thought no one was supposed to know I was here."

Shan smiled. "You needn't worry. No one else does, and I had some trouble myself. Your grandmother's confusion wards are very good."

"She's _not _my grandmother. She's-"

Shan grimaced as a barrage of sneezes commenced, the aftermath of which consuming five more tissues. "Little one, how on _earth _did you get so sick?"

"It was on New Year's," Mai said thickly.

"New—oh." He got up and put one arm carefully around her. Even at her height, Mai fit under his chin. "I very much doubt that your father would have wanted you to end up like this for his sake."

For a second, Mai leaned into his bulk. "I know," she said softly. "I found him, and when I remember him like that—I couldn't even give him a damn burial—" She spun away abruptly and grabbed at the metal teapot on the counter. "You want some tea? You should have some tea." Clattering around, she filled the teapot from the sink, stuck it on the stove and began opening the cabinets for mugs. "The tea's in the cabinet behind you," she said without turning around.

Shan sighed and opened said cabinet obligingly. And stared. "You have…quite a selection here."

"Eh? Oh, that's Meian's. She's my housemate. I'd prefer coffee but she's a tea fiend. Choose whatever." The kettle whistled and Mai took it off the stove and poured a generous amount of hot water into both of the mugs. She handed one to Shan, who took it and dipped his chosen tea bag in.

"So…" she said after watching him sip at the hot liquid for a while. "How's things back there?"

"What things?" Shan asked after the briefest of pauses.

Mai wasn't fooled. "Don't fuck with me. You know damn well what I want to know—have things calmed down yet or not?"

"Well—"

"Surely that fat bastard has forgotten me by now? I mean, I never gave him credit for a particularly long attention span…"

Shan raised an eyebrow. "Eiken was the least of your problems."

Mai fidgeted. "Look, I'm going fucking crazy out here—do you have any idea how fucking _bored _I am? I have to go to all these damn classes and listen to these damn teachers drone on and fucking on about things I really don't give a shit about. I can't stay here. This _isn't _my life and I _want _to go back. You know that. You've got to."

Shan looked her calmly into her eyes and said, "You can't go back."

"Don't you fucking lie to me—"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

Mai glared at him and then dropped her gaze. "No…" She slumped against the counter. "Damn it! Why the _fuck _is they still after me? I _paid _them back, didn't I? Okay, maybe not _me…_"

"I don't think they're after you _just _because of the money," Shan said dryly. "You did—"

"Well, what else was I supposed to do?" she snapped. "I mean, you would have done the same in my situation, wouldn't you?"

"Perhaps, but not to as…_extreme… _a degree…"

Mai snorted, but didn't push it. With six months of hindsight, she had to admit that maybe she had overreacted a little. But the bastards deserved it! She scowled darkly—and then sneezed again. "Dammit," she swore again and lunged for the tissue box. Shan sighed and handed it to her, watching as she blew her nose again.

"I think that you should get some rest."

"I'm fine," she said nasally.

"Yes," Shan said. "And all healthy people take at least five tissues to clear the snot from their nose. At the very least go sit on the couch and let me make you some soup."

"Don't—_achoo!—_change the subject—_achoo!—_GODDAMMIT."

Without a word, Shan picked her up and carried her to the couch. Given that Mai was only a couple inches shy of six feet, this was no mean feat, but he did it almost as easily as if she were ten again. He deposited her on the cushions and spread a nearby blanket on top of her. "Sit," he ordered. "Yes, the triad is still after you. They have not bothered the rest of us since your disappearance, but I have no doubt that they are still watching and things will become…difficult should you return just now. So no, you may not return yet. Should you try," Shan added mildly, "I will stop you. I may not have Taiitsukun's resources, but…"

Mai scowled, but didn't need him to finish. Shan, despite giving the impression of being a gentle giant, could be decided _ungentle _and immovable as the mountain of his name. She did feel faintly annoyed at how easily they were falling into the pseudo father-daughter relationship again—she was almost twenty years old, damn it!—but decided not to argue. She really _wasn't _feeling her best, after all.

* * *

"Chichiri!"

The blue-haired young man stopped and looked around. Who was calling his name?

"Chichiri!"

This time he pinpointed it. Running down the library's front steps was Meian. She was wearing her camel-colored wool coat over a fuzzy white sweater and a knee-length jean skirt, waving one hand wildly as her hair streamed behind her. It made a very pretty picture until the inevitable happened and her boot slipped on a patch of snow on one of the steps and she began to fall backward. Chichiri dropped his folders and lunged forward to catch her but…someone else got there first.

"Oh! S-sorry…" Meian smiled her thanks at her rescuer. "T-thank you, Brian."

"Brian" carefully removed his hands from her shoulders once he was sure she wasn't about to fall again. He put them into the pockets of his tailored khaki pants. "No problem." He had caught her from behind.

"Are you okay no da?" Chichiri asked. He felt…a little strange.

"I-I'm fine, just slipped…" Meian smiled at him. "What are you doing on campus?"

"Oh, I was—" Chichiri realized that his stuff was still on the ground…and rapidly becoming soaked. Belatedly, he picked up his now damp papers. "I was giving a presentation, no da."

"A presentation…?" Meian echoed questioningly, and then noticed her neighbor looking at the man behind her curiously. "Oh! Chichiri, this is Brian. Brian, this is Chichiri."

Brian held out a hand. "Nice to meet you."

He looked at little like Hotohori, Chichiri thought as he shook the hand. Well, a Hotohori with short, brown hair, blue eyes, and stylish wire-rims. But they both shared that same effect of looking as if they just stepped from the pages of men's fashion magazine.

"Are you going home?" Meian asked, oblivious. "May I walk with you?"

"O-of course, no da," Chichiri said, blinking. Giving himself a mental shake, he said, "Of course. You needn't ask no da."

"Oh." Meian blushed—though that may have been the cold wind. She waved goodbye to Brian.

The first few minutes passed in comfortable silence, when Meian said, "So what was your presentation for?"

"Da? Oh—" Chichiri explained about his guest lecturing.

"You look very nice," she told him. "I don't think I've ever seen you in a suit before." Which was true. Even on their dates, everything had been very casual. Not, of course, that Meian was objecting to that…like her friend, she'd rather be comfortable and having fun, than squeezed into some hideously expensive dress and have to worry about spilling tomatoes on it or something. The suit looked a little…strange, but he did look good. Very good…Meian gave herself a little shake.

"Thank you, no da. What were you and…Brian doing?" The question slipped out before he could stop it, and Chichiri silently cursed.

"What were we doing? Oh, you mean at the library. Brian and I are in the same physiology class—we were working on a project together. Er, again." She paused. "I mentioned him before, didn't I? We had classes together last semester too."

Again that annoying sting of…something at the thought of Meian working so closely with another guy. "What is the project about?"

"It's…an experiment actually. You see, we're—"

Meian's explanation of this experiment took the rest of their walk home. They parted ways at the corner, with Chichiri exercising that powerful male skill of Romantic Denial and Meian obliviously walking to her own home. She was surprised to find the front door unlocked and the smell of something very delicious cooking wafting out from inside. She cautiously reached for the doorknob—

And screamed at the sight of the monstrously tall and enormously muscular stranger standing in the doorway. Well, almost screamed. The stranger had opened the door before she could and swiftly muffled her startled cry with a large palm.

"Please, I mean no harm!" he whispered hastily, seeing her go pale and the fear in her eyes. "I am a friend of Chian Mai's, from China. My name is Shan." Deliberately making his movement slow, he gently removed his hand from her mouth. "I apologize for startling you. I did not want you to wake Mai."

Meian leaned back against the door jamb, hand pressed to her heart and breathing heavily. But she did glance in the direction the man indicated and saw Mai shift sleepily on the couch, sprawled in her usual haphazard fashion underneath the green blanket. That, if anything, convinced her that the stranger—Shan?—was telling the truth, for Mai would never sleep in front of someone she didn't trust.

"A…friend of Mai's?" Meian repeated, looking back at Shan. Now that she looked at him, she realized that he was wearing a frilly pink apron of hers with a picture of a chick on it. This went a long way towards defusing the imposing figure he made. The soup ladle he held in his left hand took care of the rest.

"Yes," he said solemnly. His voice reminded her of those deep-voiced foghorns. "I have just made a pot of tea. Please have some to calm your nerves.

"Ah…thank you." She followed him to the kitchen and sipped gingerly at the hot liquid from her seat at the center island. "Did, um, Mai know that you were coming?" _She didn't say anything to me…_

Shan shook his head, making the black queue down his back dance. "No, she did not." Despite his accent, his Japanese was precisely enunciated. "I have business in the area and decided to drop by. I met Mai went she was escorted home by a redheaded young man for being sick. Do not worry," he added when an alarmed Meian started to get up, "I made sure she took her medicine before going to sleep."

_Ah, Tasuki. _"Thank you," she breathed, and resettled in her seat. "I _knew _that it was too early for her to go back to school this morning but she _insisted—_"

Shan smiled knowingly. "Yes," he said in tones of long familiarity, "she always was stubborn. I hope that you forgive my use of your kitchen, but I thought that some warm soup might be good for her."

"No, no, that's fine. It smells wonderful." Meian frowned, remembering something. "You said you have business here? What kind of business? What do you do?"

Shan was saved from having to answer that when Mai yawned and stretched on the couch in the living room. She wrapped the blanket around herself and padded to the kitchen. " 'ey, Meian," she greeted her housemate sleepily. "Y'just got home?" She stood on tiptoe to peer over Shan's shoulder and sniff at the soup. "That smells good…"

The giant ladled a generous amount into one of the bowls stacked by his elbow and handed it to her. He also doled out a serving for Meian, who blinked and thanked him when he set it on the counter in front of her. Mai was already eating, but she still asked. 'ooo…'ow 'ong are you staying, 'en?"

Shan's eyebrow twitched, and a (clean) metal ladle was brought down very hard on Mai's head. Meian sweat dropped. "How many times have I told you? Do not eat and speak at the same time."

Mai swallowed her mouthful and glared at Shan. "That _hurt."_

"It was meant to," he told her serenely. "Now what was your question?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "I _said, _how long are you staying?"

"I will leave after you finish your soup."

"WHAT?" Mai's hand slammed down on the counter as she stood up, and Meian lunged to steady the bowl before it tipped over. "B-but—you just got here, damn it!"

Shan eyed her. "I _did _say that I had _business_ in the area."

"But—but—you—I—argh!" Mai sat back down when it became clear that her mouth and her brain simply weren't speaking together at that moment. "Fine," she grumbled. "Do what you want. Damn it, you always make me feel like a little kid."

Shan laughed, and ruffled the top of her head. "I'll visit again once you'll well again."

Mai did get better, though Shan was true to his word that he would leave "after she finished her soup." In that annoying way of his (how the _hell _did he do that anyway, such a huge man), he had slipped silently out the door in the seconds she had her back turned to put her empty bowl in the sink. Meian had watched Mai stared at the discarded apron (folded neatly on the kitchen counter) and the empty Shan-sized hole in the air before cursing, muttering something about stupid father-figures and going back to bed.


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: Own nothing of the series Fushigi Yugi, though believe me, owning a little something would go a long way towards paying my bills._

_AN: Short chappie until I can get the longer one edited properly. Two characters who haven't interacted much thus far._

**Chapter 8**

Shan had probably spent more of this life living out of airports, hotel rooms and suitcases than anywhere else, but he liked having one place to call his own. One place where he could come back to. Isn't that what someone once said, freedom was having a home to call your own?

The mercenary also probably could have afforded richer, more luxurious lodgings in a better part of town as well, but he liked the gritty realness of the inner city of Hong Kong. After all the awe and wonder at the glitz and glamour wore off, there wasn't much substance that appealed to Shan in the glass and steel skyscrapers. Many of his clients came from there, or through there, or insisted on meeting there, and Shan preferred to keep it that way: Hong Kong's glitter as a place to go, not to stay.

No, here things were more real, and expressions more genuine. True, the underworld could be complicated, but a bullet was a bullet and presented to your flesh smoking hot, not disguised as something else. And if someone thought you were a motherfucking cunt, they told you and didn't disguise it with phony smiles. Mai had appreciated that, the foul-mouthed little girl, he thought fondly.

Speaking of Mai…

There wasn't anyone in his apartment. Shan had lived long enough doing what he did that he had known that before walking up the stair. But he did a slow walkthrough anyway. Every time Shan left, he made sure to memorize the exact placement of every object and place single, nearly invisible hairs across several key spots. Sure enough, some of them had been disturbed. The mercenary had carved out a niche for himself quite awhile ago, and still maintained the respect of the ruling triads here, so they had used men professional enough to do a clean, neat search. But they still were rifling through his stuff.

Shan sighed. They hadn't found anything. He was sure of that—in any case, he never kept anything truly important or irreplaceable in his apartment. He liked having a place of his own, but he wasn't stupid. But the fact that the triad was still keeping tabs on him enough to know when he would be gone long enough for them to search his place was telling enough. Five months was an eon in the underworld, but the triad had long memories. The fact that Mai hadn't gone after the triad but only a member of it, and that the member was a singularly stupid, incompetent, offensive man wasn't the point. He had been a member of the organization, and, more important, related to someone who _was _of worth so the offense against the part was an offense against the whole.

It was a good thing that Mai had gotten out when she did—and that she'd had the resources to do so. Now if only she could manage to stay away, they might all survive it.

* * *

Chichiri woke up with a start, his heart hammering like he had just run a marathon. The area over his left eye throbbed and rubbed his fingertips over the skin. Despite the fact that it was winter and cool enough in the house that his bed had two blankets, the blue-haired man was sweating.

He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and rubbed his temples. _Well, it has been a while since the last one, _he thought morosely.

Chichiri had come a long way since years ago—he no longer woke screaming from the nightmares every night and now could go weeks, even months in between. In a way, though, that was worse. At times he even dared hope that he would stop dreaming those dreams altogether only to have the agonizing effect of his memories hit him that much harder in the dark hours.

Experience told him that sleep wouldn't be forthcoming for several hours now, at least. He glanced at the clock, groaned, and padded to the kitchen. It was the wrong season for ice cream, but maybe he could make some hot chocolate… He was just getting out the ingredients when a loud banging on the kitchen door made him jump. Frowning—who else would be up at this hour?—he went to the door and opened it.

The cold of the winter wind hit like a slap on the face, but Chichiri was more shocked by the sight of Mai standing there. Evidently, so was she and for a minute they just stared at each other. Then Chichiri remembered his manners and stepped back a little, opening the door wider.

"Er…Mai. What a, er, surprise? Would you like to come in?"

"Uh…yeah…" Mai stepped in, and out of the way as Chichiri closed the door. Belatedly she began stamping the snow from her feet on the welcome mat. She was wearing her pajamas underneath a hastily donned coat and scarf; her pajama pants were half-in half-out of her snow boots.

"So is there anything I can help you with?" Chichiri asked, when she continued to look around the kitchen warily.

"I, er…" Mai looked distinctly uncomfortable, and shifted her feet awkwardly. "D'ya mind if I just, uh, stay here awhile?"

Chichiri blinked. "Sure," he said slowly, wondering what was going on.

"Thanks," Mai said, and hung her coat neatly on the doorknob, and placed her boots carefully on the doormat so they wouldn't drip on the floor. She was an astoundingly neat person, given her personality, but Chichiri thought it resembled the care of someone with few possessions to lose rather than a natural compunction.

Chichiri returned to his hot chocolate making as Mai sat at the dining table. On impulse he made two cups instead of one and slid the second to his guest before settling into the seat across from her.

"Oh," Mai said in surprise, "thanks." She sipped it slowly.

"How's your cold?"

"Better, thanks."

The silence spun out between the two of them, and Chichiri realized just how little contact he actually _had _with Mai. He certainly heard a lot _about _her from Meian, and more recently Tasuki, but he rarely actually _talked _to her. Which was odd, considering that he had been her former guardian's personal aide for three years.

"So…" he said when his mug was half-empty, "what was your dream?"

Mai's head flew up like a startled cat and her blue eyes snapped to his with disconcerting speed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Chichiri rather wanted to know himself. He had no idea what prompted that question. After all, just because _he _had a nightmare didn't mean that she had as well. But that look in her eyes when she came in… "Nothing. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed…"

"Hmm." Mai narrowed her eyes at him. "You can be quite a scary shit, you know that?" Before he could react to such a bizarre statement, she went on, "Dad."

Chichiri waited for her to go on. She didn't. "What?"

She shot him an annoyed look. "It was about my dad. And my childhood." When he still looked at her blankly, she finally snapped, "My _dream, _dumbass. You asked, and that was what I dreamed about. Though if you can call something that was fucking true a dream, I don't—" Her mouth clamped shut suddenly and she glowered at her mug.

"I call mine dreams," he replied, and had the satisfaction of seeing her head flip up in surprise. "Not exactly the right term, I agree, but it helps not to refer to them as memories. Not when 'memory' implies you want to remember it in the first place."

"No shit." A bitter smile quirked her face. "So what haunts the monk man, eh? What sheet-rippers got you up?"

_Monk man? _"Not my father. Friend." His smile then was as bitter as her own as he not quite deliberately imitated her syntax. "It was about my friend. And my high school graduation."

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, I supposed there had to have been people with worse ones than mine," he heard her mutter as she took another sip of chocolate. But she didn't press the issue.

"So were you looking for someone, no da?" Chichiri asked as a change of subject.

"What?"

"When you knocked on the door."

"Oh." Mai flushed, noticed, and scowled. "N-no. I didn't expect anyone to be up, to be honest. I mean, it's really fucking late."

She was not the best of liars. Even if she hadn't expected anyone to be up, she likely was still looking for Tasuki. Chichiri still wasn't sure what was going on there. The rest of the house had gotten used to seeing them walk back from the gym together, eat greasy pizza in movie marathons and arguing over lunches. While neither of them seemed to mind if one of the other friends asked to join whatever it was that the pair was doing, Mai still seemed to seek out the redhead first. The house had, of course, teased Tasuki about it, but his complete look of blankness when anyone suggested that they were "together" in any sense told them otherwise.

"I, uh, just needed to get out and, er, talk, but didn't want to wake Meian…" She trailed off and another awkward silence fell. This time she was the one who broke it.

"So how are things with Meian?"

"What do you mean, no da?"

"Well, you've been going out for what, two months now? And I know she isn't seeing anyone else." She pinned him with a look. "And you aren't either, right?"

"Of course not," Chichiri said, a little sharply.

She looked satisfied with his tone. "Okay then. So. How are things? Going to keep dating?"

Chichiri didn't really like being cross-examined. "You're very blunt, aren't you, no da? And frankly, I don't think it's any of your business."

Her blue eyes flashed. "Like hell it isn't. She's—"

"—twenty-one years old and mature enough to handle her own affairs, no da. If she doesn't see fit to tell you how her love life is going, I don't see why I have to fill you in."

Her glare was like being bathed in a furnace, but Chichiri had worked as a personal aide to the most powerful and crankiest mage in the world. He calmly sipped his hot chocolate.

Eventually she subsided and let out a snort like a thwarted horse. "She does fill me in."

"What?"

Mai signed and propped her chin up on one arm. "She _does _tell me about your dates. Every single one. I don't think I could stop her if I tried, and believe me, sometimes I really want to fucking try."

"And?"

"…you make her happy. I mean, _really_ fucking happy. She'd always been too damn serious to go on dates, but she has had them, and she wasn't like this. She really, really likes you."

"Really no da?" Chichiri smiled. He hadn't exactly been in the field much these past few years either; he hadn't been certain that he was doing things right. And Meian had been the first in a very long while that he thought he wanted to be sure that he was.

Some of this must have shown in his face, because then Mai nodded. "Ah, good." She looked down at her cup. "Sorry about earlier. I just wasn't fucking sure, you know? And I haven't exactly been around much for her for this past…er…while. I'm not her mother or anything, but I want her happy."

"Well, I'm doing my best to make her so, no da."

"Yeah, well, er, be sure you keep that way," she said sort of lamely. "Thanks for the hot chocolate."

She got up and Chichiri put both empty mugs in the sink. Mai was putting on her coat when Chichiri said, "Tasuki is an okay guy too, no da."

Mai gave him a familiar look of dumbfoundedness. "Uh, okay. For someone kinda annoying, I guess."

This was so close to what he had heard before that Chichiri laughed when she closed the door


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: Do not own. I mean, it would be kinda of an obscene ego trip to write fanfiction on the canon when I own the canon, right?_

_Author's Note: A V-day theme fic for the holiday. Actually, this year the Chinese New Year also happens to fall on Valentine's Day, so double love and luck to everyone! (and yes, I know that Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday this year. But I thought this fic would be more fun if it were on a school day)._

**Chapter 9**

The living room of the Suzaku house looked like a Clamp illustration gone mad. Every available surface, and some unavailable ones, was covered in pink, white and red doilies, paper, glitter, glue, and hearts. After several unsuccessful tries, Chiriko got his mouth to work.

"What's going on?"

"Chiriko!" Nuriko waved cheerily from his spot amidst the mess. "Come in! We're making Valentines!"

"Valentines? Why?" Chiriko put his bookbag down and took a seat next to Tamahome on the couch.

"Because it's St. Valentine's Day tomorrow, silly."

"Oh."

Hotohori looked up from the card he was making. "What's wrong? You look down."

The little genius sighed moodily. "No, it's just…I don't like Valentine's Day."

"Join the club," muttered Tasuki from the other side of Tamahome. He was holding a piece of red paper in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other, glaring at both in hopes they would get scared and run away.

Hotohori ignored him. "Why not?"

Chiriko flushed. "Well, I mean…it's depressing. I've always been so much younger than everyone else in school. They all go on and on about how I seem so much more mature for my age and then there's, you know the, um, intelligence thing…"

Mitsukake blinked. "There's nothing shameful about being a genius," he said solemnly.

"The point is," Chiriko continued, "everyone _talks _about how adult I seem but on Valentine's Day I'm just a little kid. So I never get any."

Tasuki stared. "You mean, you would want one? From a _girl? _But you're just a—"

"Shut up! That's exactly what he's talking about!" Nuriko threw a pillow at the redhead. Being Nuriko, however, this meant that the pillow's impact knocked both Tasuki and the armchair he was sitting in over.

"Aww, don't feel bad," Tamahome said, ruffling Chiriko's hair, "getting valentines isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Sometimes I wish that they would cancel the whole holiday altogether."

"Right." Tasuki sat up and spat the pillow out of his mouth. "Which is why you've spent the last week humming love songs and kissing that picture of Miaka-baka by your bed."

"Don't worry," Nuriko said, reaching across the coffee table and patting Chiriko's hand. "I'm making valentines for everybody, so you'd at least get one from _me _this year."

"And you could always make a card for yourself," added Hotohori. "Like me." He added the last bit of glitter with a flourish and held up his self-addressed valentine.

Everyone stared at him. "You made a card for yourself no da?" Chichiri asked weakly.

"Of course," Hotohori replied, tossing his hair back. "This holiday is meant to express your love for everyone in your life you think is beautiful. _I _certainly am beautiful, so why not?"

Massive sweat-drop. "Right…"

"Argh!" Tamahome crumpled up the piece of paper he was writing on and sent it to join its fellows on the ground. "I'm worthless! I'll never be able to write anything worthy of Miaka."

"What are you working on?" Chiriko asked curiously, feeling a little better. He picked up one of the balls of paper and smoothed it out in the table. Chichiri leaned over to take a look.

" 'My dear, darling, beloved, lovely Miaka / your eyes are like beautiful, brown sparkling things / your hair like auburn meatbuns…no da."

The room sat awestruck at this piece of literary junk.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" If he wasn't already on the floor, Tasuki would have fallen down laughing. "Tama-baka's trying to write love poetry to Miaka-baka! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Man, you SUCK!"

Tamahome made a move as if to strangle his housemate but then sighed and sat back. "He's right. I _can't _write poetry to save my life." His voice took on a tragic tone. "How am I to prove my love for Miaka on this day of all days?" he implored the ceiling.

His housemates looked at each other.

"Take her to an all-you-can-eat buffet. She'll love you for life."

"Make a recording of you saying her name. That's all you do together anyway."

"Not true, occasionally she runs away and he chases after her…"

"Life-size plushie doll no da? I know a guy…"

"Membership to Binge-eaters Anonymous?"

"Thank you," Tamahome snapped sarcastically. "Thank you all so very much." Then he looked thoughtful. "Though the buffet idea's not bad…"

Massive face-plant.

Tasuki, having finally picked himself up and righted the chair, picked up a white-heart doily, stared at it, and then threw it back onto the table. "Peh. I give up. I ain't makin' no stupid-ass valentine piece of crap. Who'd I give it to anyway?"

Nuriko grabbed his arm and nearly yanked it out of its socked pulling him back down. "Sit! You haven't even made one yet!"

"Why the hell should I? Not like I've got some chick to give it to."

"What about your family no da? You could send your mother one."

Tasuki looked at Chichiri, appalled. "Hell no! If Valentine's Day is the appreciation of beautiful people, I certainly am _not _sending one to my mother."

Chichiri promptly morphed in the robust figure of Tasuki's mother and fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Oh, but my dear darling boy no da!" she cooed. "You don't think your mother's beautiful?"

Hotohori looked a little ill. "I wish you would stop transforming into females, Chichiri. Especially since you still talk in your own voice…or at least make them _beautiful _ones."

"What about Mai?" Chiriko piped up. "You could give her one, Tasuki."

"WHAT?"

This time it was Tamahome's turn to collapse with laughter. "AHAHAHAHAHA! That's right! You should give her one! It's a perfect match! AHAHAHAHA!"

"You'd have better be fucking joking, Chiriko! And you!" Tasuki began battering Tamahome with a pillow. "Shut the fuck up!"

Chiriko looked confused. "I don't understand. Aren't you friends now? I mean, I've seen you talking together and sometimes she eats lunch with us. And you did help her get home when she was sick a few weeks ago…"

"We," baff, "are," baff, "not," baff, "friends! _Stop laughing, damn it!_"

"Ah, Tasuki? You might want to let up on Tamahome a bit no da…the pillowcase is starting to rip."

"Not friends, huh?" Nuriko leaned on his elbows and then got a wicked look in his eyes. "_Lovers _then?"

"WHAT? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND?" Tamahome took advantage of the momentary lull in the barrage to seize the pillow and start battering _Tasuki _with it.

"No! We are _not _friends, lovers or anything in between! I don't know what the fuck we are! We just don't actively hate each other anymore!" Tasuki yelled between pillow buffets.

"Aww, that's no fun," Nuriko pouted. Then he turned to Chichiri. "So what about _Meian _then? You gonna give her a valentine, Chichiri?"

The house manager froze. "Er…that is, we…er…no da…" The blue-haired man, to the amusement of all, blushed.

"Hmm?"

"Da…"

"I am finished." Mitsukake's deep voice cut through the noise and everyone stared at him.

"Well, you have been working on the same card for more than an hour…" Hotohori remarked. Feathers drifted past his face from the pillow seam Tamahome had finally burst.

The medical student silently held up his masterpiece: a pop-up card with the words "I love you, Shouka" spelled out in enormous, 3-D Gothic letters surrounding by pop-up cherubs, hearts, and twists of ribbon. It probably would have made up over half of Chiriko's height standing on the ground.

Chiriko swallowed. "Wow," he said as the couch Tamahome and Tasuki were fighting on slowly tipped over.

* * *

"Well, that's something you don't see everyday," said one college student to his friend.

"What? Oh, you mean the hordes of girls waving cards and chasing after their objects of affection while proclaiming their undying love? Or the screaming men running away from them?"

"Either. Hey, isn't that Kimiko-chan? I think she's calling your name…"

"Ack! Gotta go!"

To be fair, not everyone on the Shijentensho College campus was chasing madly after their crush or running away. In fact, quite a few couples had connected and exchanged Valentine's Day greetings in a suitably mushy manner that would perpetuate the holiday's popularity until the next year. However, such a happy occurrence was not happening to any of the six members of the Suzaku House. They all were apparently much more popular among the campus's female population that anticipated (even Tamahome, whose relationship with Miaka was blatantly obvious), and thus fit the role of "screaming men" quite well. Even little Chiriko, who had previously bemoaned his valentine-less state, was being pursued by a pack that thought he was just the cutest thing since sliced bread (that they thought sliced bread was cute tells you a great deal about their mental status).

While relatively harmless the rest of the year, St. Valentine's Day somehow brought out the crazy-eyed. Shojo-romance brainwashed lunatic in every girl, who was convinced that _they _would be the one to gain their beloved's heart. Days of roses, sweet kisses, candlelight dinners and the envy of every other girl who didn't have a hot, impossibly-coiffed boyfriend beckoned, if _only they seized the chance._

And you wonder why the men ran screaming in terror.

Chichiri, actually, wasn't screaming, though his "no da" were uttered with increasing panic. He wasn't even a student on this campus, so how could he have begot such a rabid horde of fangirls? The blue haired young man sprinted up the steps and darted into the medical building, feet slapping the tiles in a mad search for a hiding place. He swore very un-Zenly as he found most of the classrooms either locked or full of couples declaring their undying love for each other or at least admitting, "I've had a crush on you every since first year—"

"Oof!"

"Sorry no da! …Meian?"

"C-chichiri? What are you doing here? Are you alright? You look sort of…harried…"

_Harried no da? Yeah, right, that's a good word for it. _"I'm—"

"Chiri-chan? Where aaaarrrrrrrrreeeeeeee yoooouuuuuu? We've got something for yoooouuuuuuu…"

Chichiri paled.

Meian blinked. "What was that?"

"Um…da…da…da…" Salvation beckoned in the form of an opened door a little further down the hall. "Quick, in here no da!"

The door slammed shut behind them just in time as the feet of his crazed admirers stampeded by.

Meian was _very _confused. "C-chichiri? W-what's going on?"

"Shh no da!" he whispered back. "They might hear us!"

"I don't… who might hear us?"

"Them no da! The Cohort of Evil!"

"'The Cohort—" If he didn't look so deathly scared, Meian might have thought he had completely lost his mind. Meian began to shift into what Mai called her "Doctor" mode; clearly the patient was in a delicate mental state, so further information had to be gained carefully in order for her to diagnose this malady. "And what exactly _is _this Cohort?"

"Okay, so maybe that's not their real name no da." A small part of Chichiri's normally rational brain remarked that perhaps he was spending too much time around hyperbolic and weird name generating personalities like Tasuki and Nuriko. "But they are evil! Sick! Depraved! Fangirls!"

Meian stared. "You have fangirls? With a fan club? Err…when did this happen?" Her eyes narrowed.

Chichiri hurriedly blurted, "I don't know no da! But they started chasing me around today and waving this banner—"

"Okay…_why _do you think that they are chasing after you?"

"—saying 'We Love You, Chichiri'! Then they started yelling something about me and…" he gulped, "a tub of jello and whipped cream…"

The patient was getting agitated. "Chichiri, why don't you sit down for a minute? Err…" Meian looked around and realized that they were in janitor's closet. Well, a good doctor could operate in any circumstances—she guided Chichiri to an up-turned bucket. "Try to calm down."

Chichiri sat and tried. "I really need to go fishing no da," he muttered. _Must… regain… quirky… monkish… Zen…_

"Deep breaths…" Meian prompted. "Now, can you explain to me exactly why these people are chasing after you waving a banner and desserts?" She frowned. "And why would they pick _today _to chase you? It sounds like they might have been around for awhile…"

Chichiri, a little calmer now, stared at her. "Meian, do you know what day it is today no da?"

"February 14th. Why—oh." Understanding dawned, and she flushed. _God. I totally forgot. I spent all weekend making those, and then I totally forget on the day of. _"Oh dear. One of my classmates is working on a paper about the effects of certain holidays on the female emotional state—"

"He'd certainly have plenty of data about today no da," Chichiri remarked.

"But, um, wow?" She smiled a little shakily at him, the "Doctor" persona slipping off. "You're so popular that you have a fan club! All those girls wanting to proclaim their undying love for you—"

Chichiri shuddered. "I don't _want _them to proclaim their undying love for me no da. Anyway, some just wanted to, umm, do _other _things to me…" He smiled at her. "Besides, I have you."

Meian flushed again, and looked away. They sat in silence for a few moments, listening as Chichiri's fan club combed the building. There were the occasional shouts as some professors threw chalk at the girls when they invaded their classrooms.

"So, um, have you ever, umm…" Meian started to ask, and then shook her head. "Forget it."

"No, what no da?"

"Well, err…" Meian looked down and twiddled her thumbs. "Have you ever…you know…celebrated Valentine's Day?" Immediately she mentally winced. _You mean, Meian, since it happens_ every year_._

"Not hiding from romance-crazed females in the janitor's closet you mean no da?"

Sweat drop. "Yes."

"Usually, I actually rather like the holiday. It reminds me of my senior year of high school." Chichiri smiled at the memory. She had been so pretty that day. "I was so nervous, but I finally told Emi that I loved her and we started dating. We were going to go to the same college together."

"Oh." Meian felt her stomach drop a little. "But…I thought you told me that you didn't _go _to college. What happened to her?"

Chichiri looked down. "There was an…accident just after graduation. She didn't make it."

"Oh," Meian said again, feeling horrible. _Idiot. You forgot Valentine's Day the one time you actually have someone you're dating, and you _ask about his ex-girlfriend_._ _Who _died_, by the way. _"I'm sorry." Immediately she winced; how stock dialogue was that? The silence stretched again, horribly, and Meian was desperate for anything to break it. She fumbled in her bag and thanked the fates she had put them in before she could forget…. She pulled out a small bag. "Here!"

"Da?" Chichiri looked up to see a palm-sized piece of chocolate in Meian's hand. It was molded in the shape of a heart and wrapped in pretty red cellophane with a white ribbon.

"T-this is f-for you," Meian stammered. "H-happy V-valentine's Day."

Chichiri blinked and took it. "Thank you no da," he said, surprised.

"Y-you're welcome." She was, however, glad that he couldn't see the rest the chocolates in her bag and ask why only his was wrapped separately. "I-I m-made it myself this weekend," she said hastily as he broke off a piece of the chocolate and popped it in his mouth, "s-so it might –not taste any g-good…" _I have _got _to stop stammering._

"No, it's delicious no da," Chichiri told her somewhat thickly. He swallowed, blinked and then reached into his back pocket. "This is for you."

Meian took the card. It was clearly handmade, with an image of a chibified Chichiri in a monk's costume saying "Happy Valentine's Day" inside.

"Nuriko made us all make cards yesterday no da," Chichiri said, a little embarrassed and scratching the back of his head. "He wouldn't let us leave unless we made one, so…"

Meian folded the card to her chest. "Thank you."

They smiled foolishly at each other.

* * *

"Cohort of Evil?"

"Okay, so maybe that's not their real name. But they are evil! Sick! Depraved! Girls!"

Mai stared. "Okay…so you have rabid members of the opposite sex chasing after you. How did this happen?"

"How the hell should I know? But they started chasing me around today and waving this banner—"

"Okay… _why _are they chasing you?"

"—saying 'We Love You, Tasuki'! Then they started yelling something about me and…" he gulped, "a tub of jello and whipped cream…"

In the Chemistry building's second floor janitor's closet, Mai and Tasuki were currently hiding from the redhead's rabid fan club in a manner similar to their friends' a few buildings over. Unfortunately, their sanctuary had not been found as easily or as quickly as Chichiri and Meian. Tasuki had run into Mai outside, grabbed her and demanded that she hide him. Mai proceeded to ask him what the hell he was talking about. Then Tasuki's pursuers saw them together—with Tasuki holding Mai in his arms and looking at her with wild desperation—and snapped. More so. Now with the fan girls being insane with anger and jealousy as well as romance-crazed, Mai _and _Tasuki were now the targets of their hunt.

"Oh god," Tasuki groaned, and collapsed on an upturned bucket. "I fucking hate this day."

"Well, it's not high on _my _list either," Mai said, finding a stepladder to sit on. "It's Monday. Why the fuck was all those crazy bitches waving cards and candy at you anyway?"

Tasuki stared at her. "Hey, you _do _know what day today is, don't you?"

"February 14th. Why?"

He continued to stare at her. "February 14th. Pink. Cards. Hearts. Declarations of—in my case, insane and delusional—love. Ringing any bells?"

"Oh fuck. It's Valentine's Day, isn't it?"

"And she wins a prize," Tasuki said sourly.

"God, you're right. This day fucking sucks. I fucking _hate _Valentine's Day." She scowled at the bottle of Mr. Clean on the shelf across from her.

"_You _hate Valentine's Day?" Tasuki blinked. "Why?"

"Why? Does there _have _to be a reason?"

"But I always thought girls _loved _this stupid holiday. You know, all that pink, and the hearts, and the lovey-dovey crap."

"And since _when _have I _ever _given you _any _indi-_fucking_-cation that I like pink, hearts, and 'lovey-dovey crap'?" Mai demanded.

"So why then?"

"If you _must _know, I hate Valentine's Day because last year my boyfriend bought me a fucking enormous card, two dozen roses, and took me out to eat at the most expensive restaurant in town. He also told me he loved me and asked me to move in with him." That night he had also taken her virginity, but she wasn't going to tell Tasuki _that._

The redhead blinked at her. "But…that sounds like a _good _Valentine's Day."

"Yeah. It was. Until I found out five months later that he had been using _my _money to pay for all those fucking fancy gifts, _and_ that restaurant bill, _and _that he only wanted me to move in with him so that he could know where I was when he wanted to fuck some other girl. Or take cash from my bank account."

"Oh." Then—"You have a boyfriend?"

Mai was getting seriously annoyed now. "I _had _a boyfriend, and now have memories of a lying, two-faced son of a bitch who was a fucking thief along with fucking everything in sight."

"You had a boyfriend." Tasuki shook his head. "Wow. I wouldn't have guessed."

"What the hell does that mean? Do you think I'm so fucking hideous that I don't fit your damn 'girlfriend' material standards?"

"Did I say that? I didn't say that. I never said you were hideous."

"Oh gee." Mai crossed her arms. "That makes me feel so much better. So maybe I'm merely ugly then."

"God." Tasuki threw up his hands and rolled his eyes in the manner of men everywhere when confronted with the idiocies of the opposite sex. "Are you going to twist everything I fucking say? Fine. I do _not_ think you, Chian Mai, are ugly. Or hideous. Or any fucking affront to the visual fucking senses in any way, shape or form. I think you have a very nice form. In fact, I think you're very attractive and might easily be called, in the terms of our fucking demographic, a hottie. Happy now?"

Mai blinked at him, shocked out of coherent speech. It showed. "Uh…"

"However, since you act like such a heinous bitch most of the time, I usually find it very hard to appreciate your looks because before I can your personality comes out and bites _me _in the ass. _That _is the reason I was so shocked that you had a boyfriend. So sorry I don't drool at your feet."

"You really don't know how to deliver a compliment, do you?" Mai said finally. _Well. I could kill him. This is a janitor's closet. I'm sure I could find a toxic chemical to pour down his throat. Or suffocate him with a trash bag._

That calculating look on her face was beginning to worry him. He began to edge away from her. Unfortunately the closet wasn't very big. "Uh, Mai?"

_But what would I do with the body? Not to mention, his friends would probably object. And Meian would give me that disappointed look. And Taiitsukun would descend with all ugly, old hag wrath. With the NyanNyans. Who she'd probably feed sugar and then lock me in a room with them. _Mai shuddered and then blew the murderous thoughts out with a sigh. "All those girls out hunting you today _obviously _fell in love from afar. That perfect ass and sexy smirk of yours—"

"Perfect ass? Sexy smirk?" Tasuki echoed.

She shot him a dry look. "Even _heinous bitches_ have eyes. Anyway, as I was saying, no wonder all those girls are after you. _They_ obviously haven't met the aggravating person attached to the body."

"I see you also have mastered the art of the backhanded compliment." His cell rang in his back pocket and he looked at the text message on it. "Nuriko says they've taken refuge in the library until they can sneak out."

"The library?" Mai leaned forward to read the message upside down. "Hey, good idea. That lemon-sucking hag they have for a librarian is a complete noise Nazi. She'd never let the crazy fan girls in." Pause. "Wait, you mean your friends were _also _being chased? Don't these girls have anything _else _to do?"

Apparently not. The sound of Tasuki's ringtone had caught the ears of the patrolling hordes outside the door and they homed in on the door like a heat-seeking missile.

Tasuki and Mai looked at each other.

"Shit."

* * *

"So how are we going to get to the library?"

Chichiri had received the same text from Nuriko, and was wondering the same thing. They hadn't heard anything outside their hiding place in awhile, but also weren't willing to chance sprinting for the doors.

"Hmm…" Chichiri stood up and looked around. Unfortunately, the closet seemed more inconveniently bereft of air ducts and secret passages. But… "This will do no da," he said.

Meian blinked. "What? A lampshade? A lampshade is our ticket to freedom?" _Wow, I sounded almost sarcastic. But then, I've been stuck inside a janitor's closet for—_she checked her watch—_more than an hour with my blue-haired neighbor with gravity-defying bangs and is being stalked by a large horde of college co-eds. And I haven't had any tea for four hours. Gah! I'd almost forgotten about that! Ohmigod, I need tea—no! Stop it! You've been trying to cut down ever since Mai commented that your teeth are starting to turn brown! _

"Er…Meian no da? Are you all right no da?"

Meian realized that Chichiri had spent the last minute or so watching her pull on her hair and mutter things like "No more tea…tea is bad…well, actually no, its full of antioxidants and other helpful things…but drinking ten pots a day isn't _normal…" _She gulped and plastered a smile on her face. "I'm f-fine. So what are we doing with the um, lampshade?"

"Kasa."

"What?"

"Kasa no da."

"Err…I'm pretty sure that's not a lampshade and not a kasa, Chichiri. Kasas are the traditional headwear of ancient Chinese monks, rice farmers, and occasionally traveling samurai. Along with that weird grass cloak thing. Lampshades are the traditional headwear of, er, lamps."

The blue-haired man realized that perhaps some more explanation was necessary. "I mean that I can use this like my kasa no da. Which I left at home."

_._Meian frowned. "Well…I guess it sort of looks the same. I mean, they're both conical."

"No, I mean that I can _also _transform this into an interdimensional portal slash storage space. So we can escape this closet and elude the evil evil fangirls."

"Oh." Somehow this didn't seem enough. "Umm, wow? Yipee?"

Thankfully, Chichiri wasn't listening to her lukewarm reception of his discovery and was busily enchanting the lampshade into his temporary kasa. "Okay no da. Done."

"And this will get us to the library?" Meian asked.

"It should. Theoretically, we should be able use this lamp…er proxy-kasa to enter my Kasa-space and then exit into the library. No da."

Meian, however, had written and read too many academic papers to miss those two very important words. "Should? Theoretically?"

"Well, I'm never been trapped in a janitor's closet and been forced to use this escape strategy before. But I can't think of any reason why this shouldn't work no da."

_That doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence._

* * *

"Ow!"

Tasuki swore under his breath and rubbed his shoulders. Fortunately, the closet that he and Mai had been in _did _have an air duct, one that they promptly vanished into before the fangirls managed to break down the barricade they had constructed in front of the door. Unfortunately, the duct was only big enough to fit them if they crawled on their hands and knees. Tasuki was wider in the shoulder than Mai and ended up banging them against the duct sides rather painfully and rather often.

"Shh!" Mai hissed back at him. "They'll hear us!"

Tasuki rubbed his shoulder and glared at Mai's ass, which was in front of him. It had been in front of him for the last twenty minutes, wiggling around as she inched her way forward through the duct. Wiggling and round and… shit. Heinous bitch, remember? "Have you found an exit _yet?_"

"No! Stop asking!"

Right, that's what he was talking about…focus on that snippy little annoyed tone of perpetual irritation and not on the round, little…shape dancing around in front of him. Did she always wear jeans that tight? "Fine. _I'd _just like to know if we're ever going to get out of here before we fucking suffocate and they find our bodies fifty fucking years later all desiccated and shriveled and shit."

"I'm _looking, _all right? Besides, would you rather have stayed behind with all your _loving _admirers? I think I saw one or two of them waving chocolate sauce and jello boxes…"

Tasuki shuddered. "Don't remind me."

"And since when did you learn a word like desiccated? What the hell does that mean anyway?"

"Dried up. I was copying Chiriko's notes last week."

"Hah! Found it!"

"What?" Tasuki started to move forward and narrowly stopped himself in time to avoid ramming his face against Mai's butt, which (this being Mai) would not have been a longevity enhancing move.

"An opening out of here." Mai peered between the bars of the grate. "I think…I think this opens into one of the chem labs." She curled her fingers around the bars and began to tug. "Urr…"

Tasuki watched her strain and pull for a few minutes and then asked, "Need any help?"

"No! I think I've almost—"

_Maybe it pushes _out_? _Mai had her back to him—she had shifted into a sitting position as she continued to haul backward on the grate. Tasuki snaked both arms around her waist and pushed down hard on the metal opening.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Later, Mai's memory would be formed in short clips. Tasuki pushing down on the grate. The grate popping out. Mai, having been _pulling _the grate, overbalancing at the sudden cessation of resistance. Tasuki grabbing her waist to keep her from falling out the hole. Tasuki failing, and both of them plummeting from the ceiling to the floor in very interesting, collision filled and painful seconds.

Also very loud seconds. Luckily Tasuki's fan club was still on the other side of the building.

"_Owwww…_" Mai sat up. She then realized that she was using something very squashy to lever herself up and then further realized that this squashy thing was Tasuki's face. "Oops. Sorry."

Tasuki groaned.

Mai looked down. "Oh _shit._ Tasuki? Tasuki? Are you all right?" _Of _course _he's not all right you idiot, unless your definition of all right includes having your skull cracked open and fucking _bleeding _all over the goddamn floor_. The redhead had landed under her when they fell and consequently smacked his head on the floor. While people had certainly referred to him as hardheaded before, his head wasn't quite _that _hard. _At least he's breathing. _Mai patted his cheeks frantically. "Shit, shit, _shit. _C'mon, damn it, open your eyes or something."

Thankfully he did. "Mwhuh?"

Mai breathed out a sigh of relief and helped him into a sitting position. "Thank god. You hit your head on the floor," she told him, as he continued to look at her in a decidedly disoriented fashion. Mai wet a paper towel from the sink of one of the lab benches and began wiping the blood off his face.

"Head. Floor. Right." He continued to look at her muzzily. "_Ow._"

Mai had to laugh at that as she threw the bloody paper towel away and yanked the bench cabinet doors open. "Yeah. Ow. Muchly ow."

"Sleepy…"

"What?" Mai spun around, holding a roll of the cheesecloth used for straining. "No! No sleepy! Wake up!" She patted his cheeks again until he opened his eyes. "You might have a concussion, you can't sleep!"

He glowered at her. "Too loud."

"Yeah, so people tell me. C'mon, Tasuki, focus on me. Look into my eyes. Hey!" She lightly smacked his cheek when his eyes threatened to close. "_Focus, _damn it. Uh… what's one plus one?"

"Two."

"Your favorite color?"

"Red."

"How many sake cups do you have?"

"Three hundred and four."

Mai paused in winding the cheesecloth around his head. "What? Really?"

"Yeah." Pause. "Y'got pretty eyes."

Mai blinked. "Er…thanks. Your eyes are pretty too." And they were, sort of all red and gold and orange at once, like flames… _Why are you looking at his eyes? Stop looking at his eyes. His eyes should not be interesting. _She tied off the makeshift bandage and helped him stand up. "Okay. Okay. We need to get to the library." She watched him wobble to his feet. "And get _you _to a doctor. Um…hmm." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You know, you look kinda different with the cheesecloth covering most your hair like that." She tugged the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and then wound one of his arms around her waist. "Okay, now lean on me."

A few minutes later, just another Valentine's Day couple exited the science lab, snuggling together as they walked. If they looked a little disheveled—well, who wouldn't be after a prolonged session in an empty classroom?

* * *

Hotohori looked at Nuriko.

Nuriko looked at Mitsukake.

Mitsukake looked at Chiriko.

Chiriko looked at Tamahome.

Tamahome looked at Hotohori.

The five housemates were all seated around a table in one of the study rooms in the university library. They _had _been in the library lobby, but then all the sniffs and glares at them and the deranged fangirls after them from the head librarian had made it clear that perhaps a retreat into the deeper recesses of the building might be in order.

Nuriko sighed and leaned dangerously far back in his chair. "I wonder where Tasuki and Chichiri are…"

"Didn't you text them to tell them where we are?" Tamahome asked.

"Yes, but that was half an hour ago."

"You don't think that the fangirls got them, did you?" Chiriko asked fearfully. He was wondering how stupid he could have been to _want _valentines.

"No, I'm sure they're all right…" Tamahome said, but he didn't sound convinced. "Mitsukake, what are you looking at?"

The med student simply pointed up at the ceiling.

"Whoa!"

Everyone stood up and backed away from the table as they stared up at the swirling black hole floating in the air near the ceiling.

"What is it?" Hotohori demanded.

"AHHHH!'

"DAAAA!"

Chichiri and Meian fell out of the hole onto the study table, with Meian lying across Chichiri's belly. Nuriko recognized them first. "Chichiri? Meian? Oh my god, are you okay?"

Both figures groaned and sat up painfully. Above them the black portal shrank into a lampshade that drifted downwards onto Chichiri's head.

"What the heck was that black hole thingy?" Tamahome asked.

"And why are you wearing a lampshade?" added Hotohori. "It's an…interesting fashion choice, to say the least."

"Kasa-space," Chichiri replied to Tamahome absently as he helped Meian off the table. "Meian, are you all right no da?"

"F-fine."

"I swear, I totally forget I put those crumpets in there. And I definitely didn't know that they'd gain sentience like that no da." The blue-haired man sweatdropped. The NyanNyans had made those crumpets for him years ago, when he was still working for Taiitsukun, and he had gotten rid of them in the most expedient way possible (never trust any food a NyanNyan makes). Apparently, the pastries had been morphed by the magical environment of Kasaspace into vicious carnivores.

"I-it's okay, I'm really all right." Meian didn't think she was, she was probably going to have some very disturbing nightmares tonight, but that was the thing you said at these times. Plus, Chichiri was looking so adorably contrite.

Nuriko blinked. "You can travel _through _Kasa-space? I thought you only stored stuff in there. And that's definitely _not _your kasa."

"Perchance our friend Chichiri utilized the analogous geometric silhouette of this light covering as an alternative focus into the dimension of 'Kasa-space' as a surrogate for his habitual medium? Truly a fascinating improvisation."

Everyone stared at the little genius and sweat-dropped. Most of the time Chiriko talked normally, making these occasional bursts into unnecessary polysyllables all the more disturbing.

"Have you seen Tasuki?" Hotohori asked. "He still hasn't come, though he should have gotten Nuriko's message if you did."

Meian shook her head. "No, we were, um, rather busy ourselves…"

Just then the door to the study room banged open and two more people staggered in. Before demands for identity could be issued, Mai yanked back her hood and dragged an unconscious Tasuki over to the table.

"Mai?" Meian stared at her friend in surprise. "What—"

Mai all but shoved Meian and Mitsukake at the table. "Fix 'im!"

"W-what-?" Meian stammered. Mitsukake also looked rather bewildered.

"You're training to be a, a, a doctor, aren't you?" Mai yelled. "There's a patient! Do your….your doctor thing!"

"What happened?" Hotohori asked.

"It was those damn bitches, I swear to god—" Mai dumped her backpack on the ground and began throwing things out of it. Finding what she was looking for, she yanked out a small compact mirror, flicked it open, took a deep breath and roared, "TAIITSUKUN!"

The five people in the room not doing their "doctor thing" took a step back.

"Is that another one of her mirror walkie-talkie things?" Nuriko muttered to Chichiri.

"TAIITSUKUN! YOU—"

"_What?" _snapped the image of the college president.

"Apparently," whispered Chichiri.

"Taiitsukun?" Mai blinked.

"Yes, me! That's who you were shrieking for, wasn't it? Why so surprised?"

"Well, usually _you _don't answer, I have to shout at one of your NyanNyans—"

"Well, I'm _so _sorry to have curtailed your lung exercises. Now I'm rather _busy _at the moment, what the hell do you want?"

"I—you cursed!"

Taiitsukun looked close to a fit of apoplexy. "Yes, I can curse, you don't have a monopoly on profanity! I happen to be having a _very _bad day, so just tell me what you want already!"

"_You _think you're having a bad day?" Mai demanded, rallying. "_You _haven't been chased around the whole damn campus by crazed coeds determined to declare their love for your _neighbor_, been trapped in a goddamn _janitor's _closet by the stupid bitches, had to escape through a damned air duct, then fucking fall on someone and crack their goddamn _head _open! I feel really guilty about that! _Me!_"

"Yes, I understand how _remorse _for the havoc you wreak can be a novel experience for you," Taiitsukun replied dryly.

"I can't even take the idiot to the damn infirmary because those stupid bitches are still scouring the campus! It's _your _college, do something!"

"What makes you think that I haven't been trying?" the face in the mirror demanded. "All the NyanNyans have gone berserk—"

"What?"

"Why do you _think _that everyone is acting like some silly shojo manga character?" Taiitsukun asked. "Those silly NyanNyans managed to get their hands on an industrial-sized bag of pixie-sticks yesterday and spent the night rotting their brains with soaps and insipid teen chick flicks. The idiots have been sprinkling their lovey-dovey spells all over campus all day. I've only just been able to start cleaning up after them because they're finally crashing from their sugar-high."

"Lovey-dovey spells?" Tamahome echoed behind Mai. "Then why weren't we affected?"

Chichiri gently covered Chiriko's mouth when the little genius moved to pontificate. "Well, I was doing some guest lectures so I was inside most of the day no da."

"Nuriko and I were studying together in the computer lab," Hotohori added.

"And I know that Chiriko and Mitsukake have classes all morning," Nuriko finished. "So since we were all inside, none of the spells reached us? That's probably why Meian and Mai didn't go crazy either.

"So what are we supposed to do _now?_" Mai asked.

Taiitsukun shrugged. "The NyanNyans aren't casting any more spells, and I don't think that the spells they did cast will be permanent. They should wear off by this evening."

"But we're stuck in the library! And Tasuki's still—"

"Then do your homework or study for once!" Taiitsukun retorted. "I'm doing the best I can. As for your red-headed valentine, I can see you have the two of the university's best med students working on him, so I have no doubt he'll be up and about in no time."

"He's _not _my—"

"Now if you _excuse_ me, I have work to do." And with that, Taiitsukun's image winked out. Mai scowled, snarled some choice Chinese curses, and stuffed the mirror back into her backpack.

"So looks like we're stuck then," Tamahome sighed.

Chichiri felt around in his back pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. It must have fallen in there when he and Meian were traveling through Kasa-space. "We could play a game I suppose no da…"

Nuriko brightened up. "Poker!"

Hotohori groaned. "Nuriko, you know you took all my money last time."

"No, I _did _leave you a dollar."

"In coins!"

Tamahome edged away, vowing (for the hundredth time) that nothing and no one could part him from his beloved O-KA-NE.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Spring did not come with rights to Fushigi Yugi characters in its basket. Instead it gave me rain. Bah. OCs _are _my creations, however, and shame on you if you use them without permission. Shame, shame.

Author's note: reuploaded chapter, because was annoying and didn't include my section break formatting.

**Chapter 10**

"_GARAARRGH!" Crash, bang._

"_What the hell is going on?" _

_Sigh. "Little brother is being psycho again."_

"_Psycho about what? This time?"_

"_I heard that!"_

_Ignoring. "That girl he's hung up about. The one that ran to Japan."_

"_I'm not hung up on that bitch! She cut off my fucking—"_

b "_Oh, her." Snort. "Again?"_

"_Not again. And it's not just about me. Why the fuck aren't you both still angry? Don't you remember what she did? She disrespected us! Disrespected the triad!"_

"_You know, he has a point."_

"_Sister! Don't tell me you're encouraging him."_

"_Older brother, that half-Jap chick did disrespect the triad, even if it just started because of Little Brother's lustful idiocy."_

"_We chased her out of China. Isn't that enough?"_

"_I suppose…though it really would be better if she were dead."_

_Grin. "Now, you're talking."_

"_Shut up, Little Brother. And Sister, what are you talking about? You know we can't trespass on the Yakuza's territory. And you can't seriously be suggesting we expend resources chasing after a girl we have already proved we can kick the ass of once."_

"_Of course not. But if we can convince her to come back…" Lift of an eyebrow. "Fair game, no?"_

It was a week later that the fangirls had their revenge.

Yes, Tasuki indeed had a fan club. It had come as rather a shock when he discovered this on Valentine's Day, but, sadly, it was not the romance-crazed NyanNyans who had sparked it into being. He didn't know about it, of course. That was the point. It was made entirely of female college students who dedicated themselves to worshipping at his altar of wonderfulness, writing horrible love poems and self-inclusion fics, and, all-importantly, stalking him. They actually were very good at it, and never came close enough for the object of their affection to actually sense them and demand what the hell did they think that they were doing, because that would spoil everything. So, from a safe distance, they watched their love's every move and drooled over his every gesture. The daily scuffles with members of the fan clubs devoted to the other members of Suzaku House were simply the necessary price to pay.

Tasuki's even had a schedule setup, with rotating shifts that quite amazingly structure their precious 24/7 Tasuki-time around the members' classes (which, of course played secondary to Tasuki and would have been dropped altogether save for the fact that they _needed _to stay enrolled here in order _to _stalk him). They maintained a near-constant surveillance on him save for the hours between 9pm and 3:30am (none of the fanclubs watched the objects of their less than healthy affection during those times, as the battles over the best stalking spots just got too ridiculous), and catalogued his every move in little pink notebooks. To their relief, Tasuki had rebuffed every single girl that had ever tried to date him, and many more had, ahem, decided to discontinue their pursuit when the proper incentives were supplied.

Just because they were too craven to approach him themselves didn't mean that they'd allow any other bitch to have him.

So when the fan club's president began to receive reports that yet another girl was attempting to attach herself to their beloved, she thought little of it and simply gave the order that if the bitch wasn't rejected by Tasuki himself within the week, they were to…provide encouragement. However, it soon became clear that this case was not like all the others. For one, Tasuki _didn't _serve the anticipated rejection and instead seemed to be spending more and more time in hag's company. Then, numerous attempts to booby trap and sabotage the girl during key moments failed due to strangely unfavorable (to them) circumstances. And their search for background information (and/or potential blackmail material) came up dry. As previously mentioned, attempts to break into her room were foiled, and other crawls through the school's official records held very little information beyond her name, date of birth and what classes she was taking. They couldn't even interrogate her friends because, besides her housemate, she didn't have any and those in her classes couldn't tell them much either.

Finally, when this…_interloper _was spotted running away with their idol on that Valentine's Day of all days, it was decided that more direct measures were in order.

_This_…was Chian Mai?

Deeming this threat to their beloved idol as of utmost importance, the fan club's president and three of her highest officers themselves went to confront the harlot. They found her eating lunch with that housemate of hers. Both of them were eating sandwiches and reading textbooks. Every so often Mai scowled and turned a page. Anyone who knew her well would have thought just the sight of Mai _reading _was strange, but the fangirls were more concerned with their target's appearance than her actions. _This _was the girl who dared scheme to steal Tasuki-sama's heart? Why, she looked like she threw on whatever she found on the floor that morning (or maybe the trash): ratty, faded jeans, even rattier sneakers, and a purple tee that looked so old it had faded almost white at the seams. Her hair was a superb mess, tangled into a long braid that badly needed to be redone and bangs that cried out for a trim. She was not, unfortunately, a complete whore, and there was some potential there, it had to be (very) grudgingly admitted—but she wasn't even wearing any makeup!

_Disgusting. _The fanclub president sniffed in contempt and walked up, followed by her three subordinates. "Are you Chian Mai?" she demanded.

Both Mai and her friend looked up. Mai's blue eyes narrowed. "Who wants to know?"

"I assume that you are. And we, of the Tasuki fan club—"

Mai didn't move for a second, then said, "_What?_" To the other four's surprise, she burst out laughing. "Holy shit, the idiot's got a fucking _fan club?_"

"Er…" Mai's friend—Ikeda Meian, the president's memory supplied—was looking from Mai to the quartet with some bewilderment. _She, _at least, was someone who didn't dress like trailer trash if on the boringly sedate, quiet side. As they weren't members of the Chichiri fanclub, Tasuki's fangirls would even admit that she was pretty. "Mai," Meian said, "do you know them?"

Mai snorted. "Fuck no."

The president curled her lip and added "vulgar" to the list of Mai's faults, conveniently forgetting her own idol's less than clean mouth. Behind her, one of the officers glared at Mai and said, "How dare you call our beloved Tasuki an idiot!"

"Yeah!" said another. "You aren't worthy of him, bitch!"

Mai immediately stopped laughing. "I'll call him whatever I fucking want," she said coldly. "Now what the hell do you three Old Navy slaves want?"

They bristled. Old Navy slaves? How dare she? These outfits were from Abercrombie! "We," the president said haughtily, tossing her hair back, "want you to stay away from Tasuki. You clearly aren't worthy of him, so you might as well stop in your feeble attempts to gain his affection."

"'Gain his affection'?" Mai repeated. "What the fuck? I don't want to fucking date him, if that's what you mean."

"Likely story," the president scoffed. "Tasuki is the epitome of every girl's dream." Her eyes misted over. "That smile, those eyes, that body, that accent…" In unison, all four fan girls sighed longingly. Now Mai was beginning to get a little creeped out.

"In any case," the president continued, recovering, "you are to cease all contact with him. We will not tolerate the continuation of your relations with him any longer."

"_You_ won't—" Mai stood up and glared down at the president. She was a least a head taller, a very intimidating fact that hadn't been apparent from their photos. "Listen stalker girl, _no one _tells me what to do. I already told you I don't have any sort of designs on your 'beloved' idiot. If you want to date him that fucking much, just ask him yourself. But I _ain't _gonna just avoid him because you tell me to."

"You have no idea what we're capable of," was the hiss.

Mai actually had the gall to look amused. "Stalker girl, nothing your little fashion clogged brains can come up with would frighten me."

She was, of course, wrong. Mai had faced bullets, knives, and all sorts of violence on all sorts of levels (some by herself), and the Tasuki fan club wouldn't threaten anything of the kind for fear of ruining their manicures. But they had everything beat when it came to sheer _annoyance. _Initially, Mai had no intention of telling anyone of her encounter with the fan club, deeming it too stupid for words. Nothing happened the next day, but the day after…somehow they had gotten a hold of not only her class schedule but which desks she sat at, what paths she took to get to class, where she ate her lunch, etc. And thus commenced a barrage of threatening notes, sabotaged chairs that collapsed when she sat in them, random hisses of "ugly bitch" and "stay away from him"… Like she said, it wasn't the worst she had ever endured, those first months in middle school before meeting Meian were pretty bad because _damn _if little kids couldn't be evil little shits, but…this was just too _stupid. _She was actually starting to tolerate living in this boring little suburban college shithole and this happened. Nevertheless, she _did _try.

It was, however, the attack by the horny squirrels on her pheromone soaked lunch that was the last straw.

Tasuki stretched his arms over his head as he walked out of the building. He stopped for a second just to enjoy the feeling of the cold but fresh air on his face—damn, if he didn't feel like a mole sometimes, cooped up in damned buildings all day. Man, but he couldn't wait to get back to the house and dump these stupid books off. Homework could wait—it was _Friday, _it was _sunny, _the weather was fucking _gorgeous, _like those brilliant bright snowy days back home, Mitsukake had removed those fucking head bandages this morning, and he fully intended to—

Well. It had been sunny.

Later, Tasuki would wonder how exactly he had known that she was coming for him. It wasn't as if the dark, scowling face was new, or the clenched fists, or the way those long legs ate the ground up in rapid, angry strides—wait, long legs? Since when did he start noticing her legs? In any case, he had seen Mai in a bad mood plenty of times but he was pretty sure that he hadn't _done _anything to make her that way about him…of course, as his sisters had been so fond of telling him as they were growing up, men were the densest creatures on the planet when it came to recognizing when they had given offense. Though he _had _noticed that she had been a little pricklier than usual lately. Damn. After he cracked his skull open, she had been sorta _nice _for a couple days.

But she was coming for him and when she reached him he could practically see the sparks flying out of her eyes. "Uhh…" He backed up a step. "I'm sorry?" he ventured, hoping that if she was really that mad at him, a pre-emptive strike might ward off the worse of the damage.

Unfortunately, Mai didn't seem to have heard him. She did, however, see him move back and grabbed a fistful of his shirt to keep him from moving back anymore. "You ain't goin' nowhere," she hissed.

_And I guess that Nuriko can have my collection of sake cups, since he's the only one who truly can appreciate the art…_Tasuki realized he was mentally writing his will in his head and cursed. Fuck, if his gang buddies could see him now, scared shitless because of a damned _girl. _Then again, they hadn't seen this girl punch her fist through a brick wall when the cafeteria cashier short-changed her.

Instead of starting the anticipated enraged maiming, Mai turned away from him and waved her free arm around. "Hey! HEY! FAN BITCHES! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE, YA LIL' STALKER WHORES!"

Tasuki winced. He'd said it before and he'd say it again—Mai had amazing lung capacity. He did, however, feel relieved that she didn't appear to be mad at him. After all, she wasn't actually yelling at _him _but at…fan bitches? What fan bitches?

Shit, now people were starting to stare. He was about to glare at them and tell them to mind their own goddamn business, but well…shit, if some random crazy chick came running in and starting screaming like a freaking banshee, he'd stare too. And laugh, though it didn't seem very funny right _now…_

"ARE YOU WATCHIN' THIS? ARE YOU WATCHIN' _THIS?"_

Whoever they were, they had _really _made her angry. He could hear her accent creeping back in. Oh, and there was that crazy, insane look in her eyes and the little bite marks all over her clothes—there was even a little tooth mark on her cheek that was bleeding a little. Okay, that was weird. Why did she look like she was attacked by little tiny gremlins? He opened his mouth—

And then Mai kissed him.

Yes, that's what this was. Kissing. The act of putting your mouth on top of someone else's when resuscitation or suffocation is _not _the intended action. Mai had abruptly stopped shouting, spun around, slapped one hand on either side of his face, dragged him forward and…kissed him. Hard. For the first two seconds, Tasuki had been too shocked to do anything but after awhile the thought began to creep in that an angry Mai was a _damn _good kisser. He wondered where she had learned to kiss like that. Then he realized that he was enjoying this. Then he began to panic when the implications of that reared their ugly heads. Then he began to panic because if she wasn't going to let him go soon, he was going to suffocate.

Luckily she did, and promptly gave the flipped the finger to their entire audience. "SUCK ON THAT!" And then stormed off again, leaving the redhead to gape in her wake.

"Shut up," he muttered, as the clapping started.

His housemates seemed to take it surprisingly calmly when he told them what happened.

Not, of course, that he had _intended _on telling them anything but…come on. The entire episode had taken place outside, in a public area, under the eyes of probably half the student body, who all had mouths. And cell-phones, and were no doubt frantically text-ing their absent friends. _And _sending pictures.

Damn technology.

The only thing that moves faster than Tamahome's girlfriend at the words "all you can eat buffet" is gossip.

His friends, however, had wanted to know what had transpired directly from his mouth, and, knowing there would be no end to the pestering until he complied, told them and resigned himself to the laughter.

Nuriko, however, said nothing but, "Tasuki fan club? We were wondering when they would show up."

The redhead stared at him. "What? What the fuck do you mean by that? You _knew _I had a fan club?"

"Well, not so much _knew _as…extrapolated," Hotohori replied. "After all," and he waved a hand elegantly to include Nuriko, Tamahome, Chichiri and Mitsukake, "_we _all havek4j one, and we wondered when yours would appear."

Tasuki still stared at them. "You…all have fan clubs."

"Of course." Hotohori flipped his silky brown hair over his shoulder as if to say "well, if you were as sexy as me, why _wouldn't_ you have a fanclub?"

"Hotohori's and mine followed us from our high school, though I would guess that they picked up more members on campus by now," Nuriko continued. "Tama-chan, Chiri-chan and Mits-chan's probably popped up here though."

"You all have fan clubs. _We _all have fan clubs."

"That's what he just told you, Fang-Boy." Tamahome gave him a weird look. "Man, I knew you were dense, but didn't you notice all those screaming girls on Valentine's Day?"

"I _thought _the NyanNyans drove them crazy. Didn't that hag president of ours say the NyanNyans drove them crazy? And I'm NOT a—wait." Tasuki narrowed his eyes at Tamahome. "If you have a fan club, what does little Miaka-chan think? Does she _know?_"

"Of course not," Tamahome huffed. "Besides, whenever one gets near, I just tell Miaka that they have a cream cake in their pocket. That way, she either stares at them until they go away or—depending on how hungry she is—tackles them."

His other housemates blinked. "Dude…that is _evil._"

Tamahome shrugged. "Whatever works."

"Anyway…why didn't you fucking _tell _me that I, we, whatever, had a fanclub?" Tasuki demanded.

"Well…it's not exactly the sort of thing you like to _tell _people, no da," Chichiri replied, rather sardonically. "I doubt any of our birthday wishes were "I wish I could have my own, my very very own fanclub" no da. Anyway, excepting last week, most of them are relatively harmless. They just want to sigh over us in quiet, no da."

"Actually," Nuriko looked thoughtful. "We were wondering why it was taking so long for yours to show up. I mean, you and Mai _have _been spending a lot of time together—"

"We have NOT—"

"—and ours always got super violent about that…you wouldn't _believe _what I went through to convince them that Kourin's my _sister… _Well, maybe not Mits's. They seem pretty peaceful."

"…" Mitsukake said.

Then the laugh he had been waiting for came. Well. It was more like a snicker. "So she got so mad that she _kissed _you, huh?" Tamahome said. "Rather a strange reaction, don't you think?" Pause. "Did you like it?"

"Shut up."

On the other hand, Mai's housemate fell off the couch.

"Hahahahahaha—oof, ow! Ahahahahahahaha—"

"It's not that funny, goddammit!" Mai's face was red with both anger and embarrassment. "STOP LAUGHING!"

Meian tried. "I'm, heehee, s-sorry, ha, I'll—" She gave up. "Hahahahahahaha!"

Mai could only watch, fuming, as her friend dissolved in laughter. In any other situation, she would have been amazed—Meian, being an extraordinary placid young woman, was not given to extremes of any emotion, but here she was practically exploding with laughter. When she had explained to Meian why exactly she had such a wild look in her eyes, she hadn't expected her to go off like this…

It took a few minutes (or an eternity, in Mai's opinion) for Meian to finally calm down, but eventually she managed to get her laughter under control.

"Oh my…" she gasped, wiping her eyes. She got up and sat back on the couch.

"Are you done?" Mai asked icily.

"Hee…y-yes, I think so." Meian looked up at her friend and patted the cushion next to her. "Do you want to sit and explain to me what happened?"

Mai scowled at her and sat. "I already told you what happened. And you turned into a fucking laugh-machine and fell off the couch."

"Oh. Eh." Meian turned red. "S-sorry. But do you mind telling me _why _you kissed him?"

"…I don't know." Mai's scowl deepened.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I _said, _I don't know." Mai slouched further into the cushions. "I was so mad I wasn't thinking straight. All I thought was that the one sure way to piss all those stupid, idiotic fan bitches off was to…to…." She turned red. "Well, I said I wasn't thinking straight, didn't I? And would you be, if some crazy psychos were stalking you and bugging you all week to stay away from their precious little redheaded idiot? Would you?"

"M-mai…could you back up a little bit?"

"Oh… sorry." Mai had jumped up in the middle of her rant and leaned forward so hard into Meian's face that she had pushed her friend halfway into the couch. She backed up until Meian could sit more normally.

Meian looked down and smoothed her skirt. "I think you should apologize." She closed her eyes and mentally counted down.

_One, two, three…_

"WHAT?" Mai never did disappoint. "Why the _FUCK _should I apologize to that redheaded asshole? It was his fucking fan club that did this, _he _should be apologizing to _me!"_

"And why did you automatically assume I was talking about Tasuki? I didn't mention any names. Or use any pronouns, even."

Mai's mouth worked but nothing came out. Funny, that.

Meian took full advantage of the silence. "I think you should apologize to him because, well, none of this was his fault. I doubt that the 'crazy psychos' after him actually told the object of their affection their plans. At the very least you should explain to him exactly why you were screaming like a banshee about fangirls and why you decided to snog him in front of half the student body. No doubt he is _very _confused right now."

"I do _not _scream like a banshee." Inwardly she was thinking, _Snog? Meian's really watching too many of those Brit romance comedies…_

Nevertheless, late that night (or early that morning) Tasuki woke to loud tapping at his window.

"Whuh?" The redhead whipped a hand out from under his pillow, thrashed in his sheets and fell to the floor. "Who the—"

"Oh for—psst! Fang-Boy! Over here, dumbass!"

Tasuki got to his feet and angrily yanked the window open. "Mai, wha' th'fuck're you doin' here? It's," he glanced at his watch, "3am in the fuckin' morning!"

Mai, for indeed it was she, perched on like a monkey on the tree branch outside his window, cast a significant look at the knife in his hand. "And what are _you _doing sleeping with a knife under your pillow? Lose your teddy bear?"

"Oh, and like you don't do the same."

"What? Who the fuck told you that—you know what? Never mind, just let me in, it's fucking freezing out here."

"Hmph." But he yanked the window open a little wider and stood to one side as she clambered in. He closed the window, watched as she rubbed her cold arms, and threw a blanket at her. "Idiot. You'll catch a damn cold again." He crossed his arms and glared at her. "And you never answered my first question."

She wrapped the blanket around her. "What question—oh, that." She looked a little embarrassed. "I, uh, came to apologize."

"Huh?_ You? _Apologize?"

"You know, that slack-jawed look of surprise really doesn't do anything for you," Mai told him acidly. "Your fangirls wouldn't be very happy with you." When he continued to glare at her, she sighed and leaned back against the window frame. "I came to apologize for what I did this afternoon. You know, that whole…uhh…"

Tasuki lifted an eyebrow. "When you kissed me, you mean."

"Y-yeah." Damn. What she stuttering? Shit, she was—and was she _blushing? _Fuck. "J-j-just so you know, I didn't mean to do it! Or, er, obviously I _meant _to, because I did, but I didn't _want _to, you know in _that _way. Those damn stalker hags made me just had bugging the hell out of me for the past week that I got so damn mad that I wasn't…wasn't thinking straight. _That's _why I kissed you, no other reason."

He rolled his eyes. "Gee, I'm glad we got that whole mess straightened out," he said sarcastically.

Mai blinked at him. "You mean…you didn't start having…weird thoughts?"

"No, I didn't start having 'weird thoughts.'" That wasn't strictly true. For the eternity of time it seemed to take for him to get back to Suzaku House, he _did _have "weird thoughts" about what Mai's kiss could potentially mean but then realized—"You don't like anyone. Except for Meian and that giant guy back in January—"

"Shan," Mai corrected automatically.

"Yeah. Mountain man. Whatever. Anyway, the point is, besides those two, I have yet to see you feel anything toward anyone other than irritation, contempt, or, at best, tolerance. You sure as hell don't like _me, _and definitely not in _that _way. So no, I didn't start having weird thoughts. Besides, you were screaming insanely the entire time. Hardly being fucking romantic, don't you think?"

"…" Mai sank down on the floor and hugged her knees. "I feel like an idiot," she said quietly.

Tasuki looked at her, and then sat in front of her. "Well, you were kinda being one."

She glared at him. "Stop being so fucking supportive of me, thanks," she snapped.

"Why didn't you _tell _me that you were being bothered?"

"Because I thought it was too fucking stupid for words, that's why," she replied, looking up at the ceiling and blowing her bangs out of her way. "Besides, it's not like you even knew they _existed _to do anything about them anyway."

"Point. Nuriko only told me—hey, how'd you know I didn't know?"

This time Mai looked at him like he was being dense. "You think _I _didn't try to get them to leave me the hell alone? I told them that I didn't want to fucking date you and to go ask you themselves if they loved you so fucking much. Repeatedly. Hell, I even told them that you must be fucking flattered they worshipped you so damn much—"

"What?" Tasuki squawked.

"--but they just gave me those 'nobody's home' eyes and said the whole _point _of their fanclub was that you _didn't _know about them, and _must never _know about them or else the 'purity of their love' would be sullied." She curled her lip. "Or some shit like that. So I knew that you didn't know."

"Hmm. So do you think that they'll leave you alone now?"

Mai shrugged. "Dunno. I just wanted to piss 'em off. Told you, wasn't really thinking straight at the time when I k-kissed you."

Tasuki gave her an amused look. "God, I never knew you were such an innocent. C'mon, you can say it: _kiss."_

"Shut up." Damn, she was blushing again, wasn't she? "I am _not _an innocent."

"With a mouth like yours, I suppose not." He looked at her curiously. "How the hell did you learn to kiss like that anyway?"

She was most definitely blushing now. Good thing it was dark in here. "What? What the hell do you know?"

"Look, just because I ain't hooked up like Mitsukake, Tamahome or Hotohori doesn't mean I've never been _out _with a girl," Tasuki retorted. For some reason, a lot of people always assumed that just because Tasuki didn't melt into a puddle of hormones or leer at everything in a skirt that he was sexually naïve. He grew up with five older sisters, and spent most of his teenage years in a gang, around guys whose relations with opposite sex typically consisted of hookers or one-night stands. He _knew _about girls, and was most decidedly heterosexual. But he had gotten through that awkward horny phase that lusted after everything with breasts and, unlike most of his age, found it a waste of time and energy to pursue them. So he opted out of the game.

"Hmph. Well, _Ureshii _'taught' me." The name couldn't have been spat with more venom.

"Ureshii? 'Rainbow'? Weird name. Girl or boy?"

Mai had that dangerous look in her eyes, and Tasuki almost regretted asking. "Boy," she snarled. "I thought he was _my _boy, but he had different ideas. Motherfucking bastard."

_Ookay. Mental note: do _not _become one of Mai's ex-boyfriends… _But then, he wasn't even one of Mai's current boyfriends—not that she had any. "Right. The one who stole and fucked around on you last year."

"How the hell did you—"

"You told me, remember? When we were…uh…stuck in that closet."

"Oh. Yeah. I'd forgotten about that. So. Uh. Yeah. I'll just wanted to explain things."

"Okay. You did, thanks."

But she didn't move.

"You're wrong, you know," Mai said

"About what?" Tasuki said, covering a yawn. He glanced at his watch again. Damn, but he just wanted to get some _sleep…_

"I _do _like you."

"What?" That got his attention.

Mai stood up, and Tasuki followed. "You said, with very few exceptions, that I don't like anybody and certainly don't like you. While I definitely _didn't _when we first meant, you have since proven not to be as much of an ass as I thought. So I do like you. Now. I think. Don't expect chocolates."

"Thank you so very much," Tasuki said, every word dripping with sarcasm. Though actually, for Mai to have said that she actually _liked _someone was high praise.

She shrugged, either ignoring or not noticing his tone. Climbing back out his window again, she grabbed the tree branch and started climbing down.

He watched her. "Mai?"

"Hmm?" She stopped and looked up.

"I think that I might like you too. As annoying, sleep-depriving chick as you are."

She smiled. "Good night, Tasuki."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing _fanfic _would I? I mean, that would be rather pointless. Mai and Meian are mine though.

Author's note: And…the fic lives! I really do mean to keep writing this, but the muse is really freaking good at hide and seek and I am…not.

Chapter 11

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Mai flipped the page in her calendar. She scowled at the five letters printed on the glossy sheet: March.

"Six fucking months," she muttered darkly. _Six months! _She hadn't thought that she would have to stay here that long. Okay, so things hadn't turned out as horrible as she had thought, but still…six months! And no word. She looked at the cell phone sitting on her desk. No one had called her in all that time… Well, she had told them not to contact her until it was okay to come back. But come on! She had expected at least a "hey, what's up?" call from _somebody… _Admittedly, she probably would have gotten mad at them for chancing a call that in all likelihood could be overheard or traced, but still…

Okay, so there was that visit from Shan in January. But that was three fucking months ago! And it's not as if the bastard even really stayed long enough to _tell _her anything, her having snot dripping out of her goddamn nose.

She growled at the sunshine and went downstairs for breakfast.

* * *

Mai nearly spit out her orange juice. "Wait, what?"

Meian, across the table from her, was holding up a preemptory napkin to her front. "Mai, please, keep your voice—"

"You're shitting me. You have _got _to be shitting me. I mean, how _long_—ok." Mai took a deep breath and lowered her voice. "How long have you guys been dating? Since what—"

"December," replied Meian.

"And it's March now? For fuck's sake. For fuck's _sake._" Mai leaned back into her chair. She stared at her friend in shock and utter bewilderment. "I mean, the guy seemed legit. Tasuki keeps complaining about how Chichiri gets this squishy soft-eyed look and hums that weird 'No Da' song before and after every date. "

"Really?" Meian blushed. She was beginning to get annoyed with Mai's expression though. "Look, it's really not that big of a deal—"

"The hell it isn't. It's been three months. Two as exclusive. " Though that was something of a technicality. There hadn't really been any other contenders for Meian when she and Chichiri started dating. Okay, well, there had been her project partner Brian, who had seemed potentially…but well, going to lectures and medical symposiums together did not a date make.

"You know, people used to never even date," Meian protested. Against what, she was not quite sure, since _she _had been the one to bring up the subject in the first place. "They didn't even _see _the person they were going to marry until the wedding night."

Her friend gave her a look that suggested Meian get her brain replaced. "This is the 21st fucking century. People date. And going three months without kissing even fucking once is…fuck, I don't know what it is. Hell, some people even make it to third base on the first date. Of course, those are really one-night stands, so maybe those don't count." Mai stirred the remains of her cereal. "But, dude, what the fuck do you _do_? You don't always go out. Sometimes your dates are just in-house, like when you made him dinner last week and I had to go watch fashion TV next door with Hotohori and Nuriko. I wanted to tear out my eyeballs." She glared at Meian. "For the love of god, please tell you _at least _cuddle and hold hands."

Meian was resembling a tomato again. "Maybe he's shy?"

Mai lifted an eyebrow. "He can't be any worse than you, and evidently even you have been thinking about this for a while. This is just insane." She ran her hand through her hair trying to comprehend it. "Shit, I've kissed Tasuki, and we aren't even dating."

"You aren't?" said Meian. She was kidding, but wondered. Sometimes the two acted like they had known each other all their lives.

"Shut up. And don't try and distract me. This doesn't make any sense. I mean, if the guy's door swung opposite, you'd think he'd have brought it up by now, wouldn't you? Unless he's really just that nice but three months would try anyone's patience. Plus, you know, Nuriko probably would have noticed." The violette, the two of them had come to learn, knew pretty much everything about everyone in that particular area.

Meian, remembering a moment in the snow, glared at her. "Chichiri's…door swings my way, thank you. And I know that he's interested. It's not as if we haven't had…had…_moments _but then, well…"

"No follow through, huh." Mai drained the rest of her juice. "Well, if he don't have all his bits, then I'm still sure that we would have known by now. The NyanNyans have absolutely no sense of privacy and he _did _live with them for years."

"Mai!" said Meian, shocked. She buried her face in her hands, but forced herself to remember that she was the one who had come to Mai for advice. The reason for this temporary insanity wasn't clear, but Mai was only responding the way Meian should have known she would. Taking a deep breath, Meian sat back up. "Actually, I think that there may be someone else."

Mai stopped in the middle of an increasing strange list of possible dysfunctionalities of Chichiri and stared at Meian. She slapped her palm on the table and started to stand. "There's _what?_"

Meian realized that she should have phrased that better and hastened to amend before Mai hared off in search of large weapons to inflict massive pain on her boyfriend. "No, it's not like that! I mean that there may have been someone else _before_, not now. Like he had a horrible breakup in the past and that's why he is slow to start a new relationship with someone else."

Three months obviously did not mean "new" to Mai, but she sat back down. "What gives you that idea?"

Meian fiddled with her straw. "Well, I mean, sometimes we get to talking…especially in the beginning, you know? We were, er, trying to find out more about each other. So I told him about my parents and—"

"How they dragged you all over the goddamn planet in search of sick people to heal?"

Meian winced, but continued. "So of course I asked him about his parents and how'd he grow up, and what was high school like and… He'd start off fine talking about it, but then if anything gets near the last year of high school or why he never went to college and he'll shut down."

"Look," said Mai, leaning forward on the table. "If you want the guy to kiss you and he hasn't yet, just fucking ask him, why don't you?"

Meian glared at her again. "Not everyone's mouth is hard-wired to say everything first and most likely _not _think about it later."

Mai leaned back, blue eyes widening. "Ok, ok." When her friend spouted off a statement like that, even Mai knew to back off. "But…ok. You came to me for help, but obviously whatever you and your boy do—or don't do—is ultimately none of my fucking business. But honestly, if you ain't happy with where you are right now, and want to move forward anytime before the next century, you're gonna need to find out what the guy's hang-ups are. And given how not even his housemates have pried out what Chichiri did before Shijentensho University, the only way you are _going _to find out anything is to ask the guy."

* * *

Meian ended up getting the chance to ask that a little sooner than she had thought. It was another one of their dates…though rather more of a study date than an actual date-date. They stayed in because Chichiri offered to help Meian study for her midterms but at least Mai left to give them some privacy and Meian cooked dinner. After dinner and doing dishes and running through several decks of flash cards, Meian and Chichiri cuddled up on the couch to take a break and watch some TV.

Not that there was anything good on. It was a Sunday, so all there was were some screaming Jersey Shore clones, random movies and game shows. Eventually they settled on the least offensive rom-com and let their eyes glaze over. Ordinarily this would be very comfortable. Meian loved leaning against Chichiri and well…he smelled good.

Okay, that sounded kind of pervy. What she meant was…well, Nuriko and Hotohori _also _didn't smell too bad, but whatever expensive cologne they used was sometimes a little too strong, or a little too…well, _obviously _tasteful and bottled. Tasuki wouldn't wear cologne if it paid him money and sometimes Meian wondered if he even bothered to use soap. It would be _really _pervy if she paid attention to that sort of thing about Chiriko and she only really saw Mitsukake in class and thus not really in…smell-range?

Brian had smelled good, but it was the sort of smell good that Nuriko and Hotohori had.

Chichiri didn't wear cologne. He generally smelled like whatever he had been working on at the time—sometimes that was his breakfast pancakes, sometimes it was sweat from sparring with Tasuki, sometimes it was detergent from the laundry. But there was always something else…something clean and fresh and only partly soap. Meian couldn't really describe it but she could smell it forever…

God that sounded creepy, but it was the truth.

She tilted her head up to look at Chichiri. She could look at him forever too, actually. It wasn't, you know, just because he was easy on the eyes. She just wanted…she liked being just _by _him. They weren't even talking and there was nowhere else that she would rather be. But…there was that niggling bit of doubt. She'd thought that he, you know, sort of felt the same way, but they hadn't done _anything _more intimate than hold hands and the occasional snuggle like this in three months. Meian wasn't a fan of moving fast and the thought of herself having a one-night stand would nearly give her a heart attack, but there was slow and there was _slow._

But he _did _like her, right? They _were _dating, right? He wasn't just sticking around because…

"Meian no da?" Chichiri had realized that the soft bundle against his side had just been staring at him instead of the TV for a while now.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

"What no da?" Chichiri sweatdropped. Where had that come from?

"Am I?" Meian sat up and his arm fell from around her shoulders. "I mean, I'm no model or anything, but I thought that I was _okay _looking…"

Chichiri stared at her in utter confusion. "Meian, you're beautiful no da," he said blankly.

"Then is it because I'm, I'm, I'm klutzy? Or I'm too shy? Or stammer a lot? I can change, I mean, I can try—"

Chichiri grabbed her shoulders gently. "You are fine the way you are no da. Meian, what's this about?"

"Do you like me? As in girlfriend like?"

He didn't think it was possible, but he got even more confused. "Of course—"

"Then what happened your last year of high school?"

Chichiri went cold. "What?"

Meian looked away and flushed. "I-I'm sorry, I—"

Chichiri took her hands. "Meian, what is this about?" he asked again gently.

With an effort she looked at him. "I don't…I know you don't like to talk about it. Because…well, every time we get close to it you change the subject. B-but…i-if there is s-someone else, from back then, and you're s-still in l'love with her, I'd…I'd appreciate it if you tell me right now, because I don't…don't think that we should…should…"

"Meian…"

"Please."

Chichiri sighed and let go of her hands to run his through his hair. "I'm sorry."

Meian went still and closed her eyes.

"I should have told you this sooner." He flopped back onto the couch and stared up at the ceiling. He swallowed. "I came into this world alone. My mother died having me, and my father…well, he never really got over losing my mother. We were never really close. But that was okay—I had my friends, Emi and Hikou. We grew up together, the girl and I, and all three of us were very close. We were all even planning to go to college together. The middle of junior year in high school, Emi and I began dating…" He trailed off, lost for a second in the glittering bright memories…

…and the pain of the ending.

He struggled on. "I proposed to her on Christmas of our Senior year. But one day, I found out that she didn't want to marry me anymore. Because of my best friend. It was prom. I saw them together…" He looked down at his hands.

Emi and Hikou locked in a passionate embrace in the parking lot, Emi's face in ecstasy…the feeling of his world breaking and his heart filling with knives.

"I had a very quick temper then, and I pulled them apart."

Wrenching the car door open, shouting, Emi screaming and crying…and Chichiri ignoring her in a red fog of rage. The thunder beginning to roll, rain soaking the rented tux as Hikou and Chichiri fought…

"It was the worst storm in living memory, but I don't think I really noticed. Hikou and I fought and he…he ran. I know now that he didn't want to hurt me, and he would have had to to make me back off. But I had lost control. I chased him into the woods behind the school…"

Lightning splitting the sky, winds howling, wet leaves and twigs snapping against his face. Screaming his best friend's name. Hikou spinning around at the edge…

"…and he fell off a cliff into the river…"

Hikou pleading, apologizing, crying for forgiveness…Chichiri deaf to everything and advancing…another struggle and Hikou screaming as he fell down. Chichiri finally snapped out of it and reaching a fruitless hand… His best friend struggling briefly before disappearing forever beneath the waves.

".. and…I was too late. The water was too high and too fast…Hikou drowned because of me. I dived into save him, but I was nearly also lost when a log came and knocked me unconscious. They found me the next morning washed up on the river back, but of Hikou there was no sign." He sighed. "I was barely alive myself, they told me, and nearly lost my eye. I couldn't concentrate after that, and I couldn't bear to see Emi. Everywhere in town I looked I could see the places that we'd laughed…I left after graduation. It was either that or go mad."

He fell silent.

It took Meian sometime to tag the burning of her eyes as tears…but when she did, immediately tried to stifle the sounds in her embarrassment. She felt vaguely stupid; she had always cried easily. In her more unkind moments, Mai had described her as a leaking faucet. But in reality, like Mai, tears also made her feel weak—but Meian rarely had the will to suppress the salty droplets when the urge came. And then there was the factor of guilt as well. She knew that his past held some sort of painful memory for him, but did she let it go? Nooo…she had to go and ask and pry.

That's why she was rather surprised when Chichiri went and pried her hands away from her face.

"You're…crying," he said blankly.

She stared at him. _Well of course I am, that's what happens when tears pour out of someone's eyes, isn't it? _Her embarrassment made her uncomfortably sharp. She took a deep breath and tried to get under control.

The monk also looked discomfited. "I'm sorry," he said finally.

She laughed shortly and softly. "What do you have to be sorry for?" She sniffed and hated herself for the necessity. "I'm the one who asked."

The monk sighed. "I…I'm relieved, actually." He blinked. "I think relieved is the term."

She gaped at him. "What?"

He released her hands. "I suppose I would have had to tell you sometime no da."

_Relieved? 'I would have had to tell you sometime'? What does that mean? _She sniffed again. It didn't help. The tears still flowed hot down her cheeks. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. _Why did she have to ask? Why couldn't she have just left it alone? Why did she have to be so selfish to bring something up that was so painful just because she wanted… "I'm so s-sorry," she sobbed and buried her face in her hands again. "I w-won't bring it up again, I swear, I don't even blame you if you never want to see me again—"

"Meian."

"I was so _stupid _to bring this up—"

"Meian, look at me." When she didn't move, Chichiri pried her hands away for a second time and placed both of his to frame her face. She blinked at him, trying to clear her eyes. He cleared a tear away from her cheek with his thumb. "Why wouldn't I want to see you again?"

"B-but, because—" She hiccupped and flushed. "Oh god, don't look at me—"

He smiled. "Meian, you're beautiful."

And kissed her.

She froze and didn't know how to react at first, but then instinctively closed her eyes and leaned in. Chichiri's lips were soft and giving, and he tasted, she thought later, like sun and pancakes. When they broke apart, Meian was more flushed than ever, and Chichiri was smiling wider. He brushed some of her hair away from her face. "I'm sorry," he said again, and looked a little embarrassed. "I know I don't move fast. But I lost Emi and Hikou a long time ago. I don't think that it'll ever stop hurting but it doesn't rule me anymore. Besides, you're the first person in a long time that I have ever wanted, if you'll have me—"

He didn't get to finish that sentence as Meian broke into a smile like the sun coming behind rain clouds and pounced.

* * *

"Aww, that is so cute," Nuriko gushed outside the window.

"What? What are they doing?" Mai hissed from the ground.

"Making out. Looks like Chichiri confessed his deep dark past and now they're all happy and sucking face," Tasuki told her.

"You're such a romantic," said Mai sarcastically. "But about fucking time! Can you let me up now?"

Mai and the rest of Suzaku House were hiding in the bushes outside Mai and Meian's living room window watching the drama play out. Mai, having lost patience, had tried to burst in and force the issue but Nuriko and Tasuki yanked her back. Nuriko kept her in place by pinning her to the ground with a deceptively delicate hand on her breastbone. When she was let up, she squeezed in between Tasuki and Tamahome.

They watched in silence for a few minutes when Hotohori remarked, "It looks like they are making up for lost time. Should we give them their privacy and repair back to the house?"

Tasuki snickered. "I'd say. It looks like _you_," he pointed at Mai, "might be needing find somewhere else to stay tonight."

"What!" she whisper-screamed, hard-pressed to keep her voice down. "They are _not -" _She glanced at the window. "Oh hell. Fine. But where the hell am I going to sleep at your place?" she said as they exited the bushes and headed back across the yard. "I am _not _going to be staying in Chichiri's room. That'll be too fucking weird."

"Fang-boy's bedroom?" Tamahome suggested wickedly. "Or his bed? Might as well keep the trend going…"

Tasuki lunged for him and Tamahome dodged. Mai blanched. "_His _bed? It'll probably be full of sake cups and tessens and random bits of pizza."

Tasuki ceased his assault on Tamahome and glared at her. "It is _not. _My room is perfectly fucking clean, thank you. And what the hell? _You_ _know _that."

"Oh, yeah."

Nuriko stared. "What? You've been in his _bed?_"

"Shit no," Mai yelped when she caught the insinuating tone. "It's not like that! There's a tree—"

"So you have been spying on him instead?"

"NO!"

"Hmm…" Hotohori eyed Tasuki. "Well, I suppose there is no accounting for taste, especially when _I _am only a few windows over."

Tasuki bristled. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I am not stalking that idiot!"

Nuriko giggled. "Well, _I _didn't say it."

Tasuki stared at Mai. "You're stalking me? You pervert!"

"Shut up! Why the hell would I want to stalk you? If I wanted to get some perverted-ass pictures of you, all I would have to do is find those fanbitches you have."

This time Tasuki blanched. "God, don't say their name."

Mai waved a hand. "Don't worry about it, they don't lurk around here anymore."

This brought all eyes on her. "What? What did you do?"

Mai looked upward with a supremely angelic expression. "Nothing. Except use the NyanNyans to track down every single one of their mini-shrines, both physical and electronic, and demonstrate how I can erase every fucking one of their pictures, and videos, as well as publish their diaries for the world to see. Besides losing all their precious treasures, there was quite a bit of criminal activity that these girls engaged in to get those in the first place. Oh, they thought it was justified in the name of love and obsession, but are well aware the greater society doesn't view things that way."

Tamahome whistled. So did Tasuki. "Holy shit. So you are what, the Head Fangirl for all the groups on campus now?"

Mai gagged. "What the fuck? God, NO. I feel my IQ dropping whenever I'm around then, so I sure as shit don't _run _them." She shuddered. "They just leave me and this general area alone now."

Nuriko lifted an eyebrow. "I was wondering why they didn't retaliate against you for the kissing incident…"


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: *Check pockets* Nope, still don't have the rights. *Check again* Nope, still not making money off of it.

Author's Note: Still plugging away at this. I _do_know where this is supposed to go, but it's writing my way there that is the problem…

**Ch. 12**

"_BWAHAHAHAHA! BWAHAHAHA! THIS IS GREAT!"_

"_What is going on? Why is Little Brother laughing like that at the television?"_

"_Haven't you seen the news?"_

"_What? Oh. Don't tell me…"_

"_I may have let slip the location of the keys to that evidence lockup for guns and explosives we made that dirty cop give us."_

"…_why would you do that?"_

"_Remember our conversation? And see where all the incidents this past week have _been?_"_

"_Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot. Besides, isn't this overkill?"_

"_Aw, don't ruin his fun. Little Brother hasn't looked this happy in ages."_

The next day, when Mai returned to their house after classes, Chichiri was gone, but Meian was there all smiles and sunshine and happy happy happiness. And humming. Mai was _so_not in the mood after spending the night on their neighbor's couch and ending up with a severe crick in her neck as a result but she plastered a grin on her face before dragging herself up to her room to collapse on the blessed bed.

Meian and Chichiri then proceeded to do this thing where they, uh, explored their new level of intimacy and started stealing kisses and engaging in closet time and then stammering increasingly unbelievable excuses all over the place. Their housemates were treated to gasps, fading giggles and sights of sand-blonde and blue hair vanishing around the corner just as they entered the room. At first it was kinda cute since they had a ball teasing the couple and finding out how deep the blushes could go, but then it got _so_cute it was really annoying.

Finally, when Mai and Tasuki walked in on Meian and Chichiri in the kitchen (Mai was grabbing a textbook that Tasuki wanted to borrow). Meian was sitting on the sink and was very firmly attached at the lips to her boyfriend. After watching for a few minutes, Tasuki cleared his throat and waited while Chichiri caught Meian before she fell into the soapy suds the dishes she had forgotten about washing were in. Then he crossed his arms and stared at them both as they stammered incoherently before looking at Mai.

"I still think that she looks more carmine than tomato. It's kinda pinkish, see? Chichiri is the tomato."

Mai blinked, and squinted at her housemate. "Huh, I guess you're right—but what the hell, carmine? You ingest a crayon box or something? And nah, Chichiri's more like a claret—"

"What, you get on me for 'carmine' and you trot out a _claret?_What would you know about clarets?"

"Taiitsukun, dumbass. She's got a wine cellar, you know."

"What? You never told me that!"

"Don't give me that betrayed look! What makes you think that she'd ever let you down there? She don't let _anybody _down there."

"Er…" Chichiri said as the other pair got characteristically sidetracked.

Tasuki sighed. "We don't really care if we walk in on you sucking face, you know."

Mai whacked him on the arm.

"Ow! What the fuck?"

"Be a less of the fucking stereotype, would you? Show a little sensitivity." Mai looked at Meian. "The two of you are so fucking cute, I am getting cavities. But stop freaking out and making excuses whenever we see you making out, ok? It's exhausting. You're not doing anything _wrong _and its not like it's a big damn secret you are together, right?"

Silence.

Tasuki huffed and rubbed his arm. "And how was that any better? She's turning even _more _carmine."

"Hmm no da." Chichiri's eyes slid sideways to his indeed very carmine girlfriend speculatively. " I think she's even cuter when she's carmine no da."

Mai blinked. "What?"

Meian blinked. "Wha—mmmm?"

Mai and Tasuki watched as Chichiri, taking their words to heart, resumed where he and Meian had left off when Mai and Tasuki walked in. It didn't take long for Meian to join back in.

"Cavities," Mai said in disgust.

"Say what?"

* * *

A week later, Tasuki been taking out the trash—well, okay, fine, he _hadn__'__t _been taking out the trash, he had been dismembering it because that bastard Tamahome had hidden his tessen again for no good reason at all (photoshopping Nakago's head onto Miaka's body in a picture of the eternal boyfriend and girlfriend being nauseatingly lovey-dovey last summer and taping a poster of it above his housemate's bed did _not _count) and the only place the redhead hadn't looked yet was the garbage on the curb.

He'd just up-ended the second can when Meian was on her way back from campus. She'd smiled a greeting, walked on, paused in mid-step and swiveled around again to give him a puzzled frown before inquiring what he was doing. Tasuki was tempted to snap "Pawing through the goddamn trash, what does it _look_like" but Meian was _nice, _if kind of, you know, annoyingly shy sometimes. And she was Chichiri's girl now, which meant if he freaked her out the blue-haired man was going to righteously smite his ass. And then Mai would come by and try to kick his balls out his ears.

Which would be painful.

So he explained what Bakahome did and Meian surprised him by setting her books aside and getting down on her hands and knees in that pretty jean skirt to help him look. Women may be annoying sometimes, but damned if he was going to let a girl do _that_and tried to make her get up. But then Meian found his beloved tessen stuffed in an empty pizza box and he felt doubly bad for wanting to snap at her earlier. So he thanked her and asked her if she wanted come in and wash her hands and drink any, uh, water.

Okay, yeah, that was lame, but it wasn't as if he could ask her if she wanted a _beer,_right?

So as Meian washed her hands in the sink with that cucumber melon smelling stuff Nuriko bought, they made awkward small talk until Meian asked him if he'd noticed Mai acting strangely over the past few days.

To which Tasuki had said, "Say what?"

Meian dried her hands on a towel. "Sort of…touchy."

Tasuki raised an eyebrow. "And that is different from her usual good humor how?"

Meian blushed. "Okay, that wasn't the right word. Um…touchy as usual but really prickly about more specific things? New interests?"

"Like being suddenly completely news obsessed?" added Tasuki dryly. _God.__Why __can__'__t __women __just __say __what __they __mean __right __off?_

Mai had started the week in a pissed off mood. Which was perfectly normal, it being Monday and it being Mai. Tasuki wasn't too enthused about Mondays either. But then she was carting around stacks of newspapers, spending her lunch hour reading CNN feeds online, and demanding they watch the world news whenever she got control of the remote. As far as Tasuki could figure, it had started Monday night when they had been studying over pizza and coke. The TV had been more for background noise than anything else. He hadn't even know what channel they were on until he'd asked Mai if he could compare answers in a problem set and realized that she wasn't even paying attention to chemistry.

"Er, yes," Meian said. "News obsessed. Do you have any idea why?"

Tasuki ran a hand through his hair. "No. I just remember that it started with that big explosion last week…"

He couldn't remember exactly what the news bulletin had been about, but flashes of an explosion in some inner poor district of Hong Kong, a British voice explaining just how useless the rescue teams efforts were, and how no one knew had many people had been trapped in the rubble came to mind. No one knew what _caused_the explosion either, but a gas main leak was being tossed around. The local hospital, as usual, was overstaffed and when the camera tried to get an interview with one of the victims they'd managed to drag out, Mai had stiffened. The piece ended with the reassuring little tidbit that this had not been the only significant event in the last week—there had been a fire a few streets over the day before, and a random shooting in a convenience store the day before that.

Meian frowned. "Hong Kong? Do you remember what district exactly?"

"What?" Tasuki blinked. "No. Why?"

"Well…Mai did grow up in Hong Kong. Do you think that she saw anyone that she knew?"

"Uh…" Tasuki paused again. "Well, I wasn't really paying attention." But he thought again about Mai's reaction to the attempted hospital interview. "Maybe? Why?"

"Umm…n-nothing," Meian stammered. Tasuki fought the urge to sigh. Mai wasn't exactly the greatest of liars either, but her housemate took the cake. "T-thank you for the water."

He shrugged. "Sure. Thanks for helping me find this," he said, waving his tessen. "Now if you excuse me, I've gotta go hide that bast—I mean, dumbhead Tamahome's money and pretend I burned it."

Meian blinked. "Okay…"

* * *

They didn't really think anymore about it until a week later when Tasuki screamed and nearly concussed himself in the bathroom.

Meian was over at their house preparing for her last exams. Chichiri was making her a snack. The rest of their housemates were still at school, either taking midterms of their own or at the library. Meian assumed that Mai was doing the same until Tasuki let out a blood-curdling scream and a loud thumping came from the downstairs bathroom.

Meian and Chichiri looked at each other and ran over.

"Tasuki no da? Are you okay?"

He was answered by virulent cursing.

Chichiri cautiously opened the door and nearly cursed himself.

Taiitsukun's fearsome visage was floating in the bathroom mirror. Tasuki had been washing his hands when she appeared in the mirror; the thumping occurred after he thrust himself away in terror and collided so violently with the door that he bounced off, slipped on the floor tile and sat down hard.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" the redhead screamed.

Taiitsukun looked at him, unmoved. "Where is she?"

"Where is _who,_you crazy bit—"

"Taiitsukun, who are you looking for?" Chichiri asked quickly.

"Mai, who do you think?"

"Isn't she in class?" Meian asked. "I saw her this morning and she said that she had an last midterm this afternoon—"

"Her last midterm is _tomorrow _afternoon," Taiitsukun said. "That idiot…"

"Look," said Tasuki on the floor. "If she's just cutting class, that's her deal. Get your damn NyanNyans to look for her!"

"They are," Taiisukun snapped, "and don't sense her anywhere on campus."

'What?" the three of them said, shocked.

"What do you mean?" asked Meian, feeling her stomach sinking. "Where is she?"

Taiitsukun looked even grimmer than she usually did. "I was hoping you knew. I was _hoping _that it was really someone that looked coincidently like her that just bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong using one of my credit cards at the airport."


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: Not mine._

_Author's note: Going into this arc, I want to say that I do not consider myself an expert on Asian organized crime (or any sort of organized crime for that matter). Anything I know, I know from movies, novels, and Wikipedia. Therefore anything in this fic on the matter is completely made up, and not expected to be a comment on or have any sort of relationship with the real world in anyway. I mean, it's a fanfic. Duh_.

_Also, what the heck is up with FFNet's formatting? Somehow all my page breaks for chapters 1-10 disappeared. Sorry about that! I am working reloading the chapters with the page breaks for easier reading. _

**Chapter 13**

When Chian Mai returned to Hong Kong for the first time in six or seven months, she resisted the temptation to do something as cliché as take a deep breath of familiar air. The air in Hong Kong wasn't really anything you wanted to inhale any more than was necessary.

Instead, she adjusted the strap of her backpack, and began walking.

Taiitsukun never really understood why, once she was out, Mai was always looking to go back. True, she had family here—but she had no desire to see any of them, if they were still alive, ever again. The only family she _had _cared about, her father, had been murdered two years before she'd met Taiitsukun. On bad nights she could still see his body chewed up by life and thrown carelessly away like so much trash on the street. Her childhood here had far more dark memories than bright ones.

But while Mai was indeed grateful to Taiitsukun for taking her out and providing her with a life and an education that would have been way out of her reach otherwise, Mai never really felt comfortable in Japan. It was more than that she was part Chinese and the Japanese language and culture was always second, not first. Even at nine she had been unable to relate to the cheerful, comfortable upper class she'd been shoved abruptly into. Meian, when her friend had been dabbling in psychology, would have said that perhaps Mai had an inferiority complex and was angry at all the people she was now meeting that didn't have a clue about living on the streets and scrounging and scraping along the dirt and the ground just to find something to eat. That Mai clung to inner-city Hong Kong because that was the earliest place she'd known and therefore the one that had the deepest impression on her.

Maybe that was true. Mai tried not to think about it too much. Anger and annoyance was easier.

She took a left down the next street.

The smells were the same, and the constant buzz of voices, high and low, shrill and clear. Her stomach growled like a bear on the way and she bought a hot beef bun from a cart, tossing it gingerly into her hands while it cooled. The taste of it, the crudest street food ever, was like heaven.

When she'd first heard the phone call after watching that scene on the news, she'd thought, _well, fuck. How stupid do they think I am? Of course it's a trap. _Who else and how else would they have the resources to track her down? _Shan _had found her, but Shan was, well, _Shan. _And they wouldn't have gotten anything from him. The thought that he would have betrayed her was laughable. And anyone else she'd known here two years ago would have been too busy trying to stay alive in the aftermath to risk trying to contact her on their own.

But the Triad had its network sending gossamer strings everywhere. It may not have Taiitsukun's unique resources, but it had resources of its own. Mai knew that they would find her eventually all along. Though she had thought it would have taken them longer. And being in Japan and firmly in the Yakuza's home country, careful not to piss any of _them _off, she'd hoped maybe they would leave her alone.

She must have _really _pissed them off.

But, fuck. Even knowing it was a trap didn't mean she could just _leave _him there. Though she was going to kick his ass herself for being so damn stupid.

Ahead was an old bar. Once you were on the right street it was rather hard to miss. The second and third floors looked like a giant flaming fist had rammed into the side of the building. The windows were all cracked and blackened, soot still streaked the stone, and the metal window frames hung crazily crooked. A half hearted attempt had been made to block the hole with some cheap plywood, but whoever had tried either ran out of wood or heart because a swatch of cheesecloth might have done a better job.

The cheap doorbell dinged as she went in on first floor. She stood a minute, letting her eyes adjust to the dimmer light.

The bar was one of those gritty little places not nearly glossy enough for the tourist rags, but also not camp or quaint enough to be classed a "hidden gem." There were a few battered stools of various heights pushed up against the bar and a couple of equally mismatched tables scattered around the room. A fan droned lazily overhead and a small ancient TV was mounted near the ceiling. At this time of day, only a couple of regulars who were too old, too crotchety or too lazy to go anywhere else were perched on the stools. As Mai entered, their heads swiveled as one to look at her like some creepy creaky marionette. The bartender ignored her and continued pretending to clean the glasses.

Mai walked up and leaned her elbows on the counter. "Hey Tong," she said. "Gimme a coke."

The bartender stopped and turned his head to fix her with a gimlet eye. "This's a damn _bar, _we don't—"

Mai grinned at him. Or, at least, showed her teeth.

He froze and a medley of badly played melodies ran across his face: shock, horror, anger and annoyance.

"What—why the hell are you _here?" _he demanded.

"You _called_ me_, _dumbass."

"Y'mean…that really was your number? Shit, I didn't—" he paused, and glared at the customers ranged in front of him. "You steal a single yuan or fucking bottle, I know where you live. And so does my wife."

To a man, the patrons blanched and shook their heads in desperate denial of ever wanting to steal anything.

Tong slammed the glass he'd been cleaning down on the counter, and flapped an irate hand at Mai to follow him. They went through the beaded curtain to the back storeroom. A fly buzzed drunkenly.

Tong buzzed angrily. "Why the hell did you come here?" he demanded again.

Mai found a six pack of unopened pop cans on the shelf; she snagged one and popped the tab. "Like I said, you called me."

"They made me, but I didn't think that you would be so stupid as to actually come _back. _You do know it's a_ fucking trap, _don't you?"

"Of course I know it's a trap, don't be ridiculous."

"Then you stop!" he snapped. "You knew it was a trap and you came anyway?" He face suddenly froze in horror. "Do _they _know? Were you followed?"

"Of course they know. It's the fucking Triad, isn't it? They knew as soon as my plane touched down. But I gave their man the slip on the way here."

"But they know that you'd come here anyway!" Tong wailed.

"Well, isn't that why they made you call me?"

He glared at her. "How can you be so damn calm?"

She lifted an eyebrow. "You think I'm calm? I'm _fucking pissed."_

Tong raised an eyebrow back. Mai, in a temper, did _not _stand there calmly drinking a pop. Mai in a temper broke things. Mai in a temper tried to break people. Six months could not have mellowed her that much.

"I'm saving it for later," she said, his thoughts being plain on his face.

"Huh," was all Tong could say about that. "Well, you're here. Now, like an idiot. What are you going to do? Where are you going to stay?"

"Well, I was going to stay here, but you still haven't—"

"They wouldn't let me," Tong said sourly. "Not that I have the money to do it anyway. Thanks for getting half my income blown to hell, by the way. "

"Shut up, _I _didn't do that, _they _did. I worked for free, so it's not like you charged me rent."

"All the stuff you broke, I should have charged you anyway," he grumbled.

"So, given the damn great hole where my apartment used to be," Mai said, ignoring him, "then I'll stay with you."

"What? Hell no."

"Ask your missus, "Mai suggested wickedly. "See what she thinks."

Tong glared at her again. "That ain't fair. You know she likes you, fuck if I know why. That woman don't even like me, and she likes you."

* * *

Tong's missus was overjoyed to see Mai back, in direct contrast with her husband. Tong had grown up with Mai's father, and Tong's wife's mother had been friends with her father's mother so in the convoluted sense of Chinese relations, that equated to Mai being an almost-niece.

Mai was greeted in a flurry of activity that included high-speed exclaims of joy, exclaims of how tall and pretty Mai had gotten, exclaims of how _thin _Mai was, and demands of why wasn't she taking better care of herself and why didn't she visit anymore. Mai made noncommittal sounds—Tong's wife wasn't really expecting an answer during this almost ritualistic explosion of welcome-and let herself be ushered to the dining table for food that would "just be five more minutes, you sit down right there—Tong! Tong! Where are you? Get the plates. No, the blue ones! The nice ones! _Xiao Mai _hasn't been in _forever _we need to celebrate! Oh, I wish you had told me you were coming, I haven't made anything special, Tong really should have called ahead, I had no idea, but isn't that just like the man? Why I didn't listen to my mother and marry one of those other nice boys, I had _so many _beaus you know, I looked just like you when I was younger, though I wasn't as tall and I was curvier—why are you so thin? Look at you. You shouldn't be _fat _but you need to take care of yourself more, or else who is going to look at you? A man likes a little curve in a woman, we need to get some food down you—_TONG, WHERE ARE THOSE PLATES?"_

Mai smiled and drank the offered tea.

Tong's wife was an excellent cook, and Mai had no qualms about shoveling down the helpings that were heaped in front of her. She ate until she was sick, but _damn, _everything was so _good. _The conversation kept going through dinner, though the lady didn't seem to mind that she was usually the one talking. The flow of sound just washed over Mai as the housewife asked her opinion of the food, passed gossip on the neighbors, harangued Tong about spending all his time at the bar, commented on the latest fashions, and the latest on her family. There was a brief awkward stint where Mai was quizzed on why she hadn't visited in so long and what brought her back now, but Tong expertly diverted his wife's attention with a question where she had gotten the eggplant, and sent her off on a fifteen minute tirade about the rising food prices at the market.

"Of course, the explosion last week didn't help," she ended.

Mai and Tong exchanged a look.

Oblivious, the lady looked down at Mai's empty plate. "Oh, are you done? Here, let me get you some more—"

"No, thanks, I'm really full. That was delicious," Mai said hurriedly.

"There's plenty more—are you sure? Ok, well, I will just take this away then. No no, don't get up, you are our guest! I won't _hear _of you going to some nasty hotel when we have a perfectly good spare room here."

Mai sent Tong a smirk, which he ignored.

"You sit right there, and I will go get the room ready," the lady bustled off, but then yelled from the kitchen, "TONG, HELP ME WITH THESE PLATES!"

Give a long-suffering sigh, Tong got up.

After about another hour of chitchat, then another hour of dropping increasingly unsubtle hints, Tong's wife finally left Mai alone in the spare room to get some rest. Her spouse dropped in with the excuse of spare sheets and pillows while his wife went to watch her "shows."

"We need to talk," he said.

Mai rolled her eyes. "No shit. Ok Tong. Lay it out. What does the Creepy Triad want with me?"

"What do you think? And don't call them that."

Mai snorted. "Oh, I don't fucking doubt they _eventually _want my dead corpse, but that ain't why I'm here now. They could have killed me any number of ways from the airport to here. Hell, they could have even sent someone after me in Japan if they wanted me dead bad enough to piss the Yakuza off because of an unsanctioned hit. But they kidnapped Ming, and then called you to get me. They want me for something else. So c'mon. SPILL."

Tong sighed. It was becoming a habit—Mai did that to him.

The "Creepy Triad," as Mai put it, was not _actually _the Triad. It referred to three up-and-comers with ambitions to become full-fledged members of one of the Triad organizations that controlled Hong Kong: Tenkou, Renhou and Miiru. Given their names, or at least what they called themselves, it was rumored that they were part-Japanese—normally this would have put them at a significant disadvantage in the Chinese criminal organization, but they had proven themselves to be exceptionally ambitious and ruthless. They had come out of nowhere about five years ago and were given Mai and Tong's neighborhood as territory in a promotion and on their way up. However, two years ago, Mai had returned to the city and…made things difficult for them. Mai hadn't been directly attacking them, only one of their subordinates, a scumbag named Eiken, but her indirect effects were…explosive enough that the three had to make an example of her. They ultimately didn't and Mai escaped causing them to lose face and their careers halted.

She didn't make their ten list by any means, unless you mean their top ten list of people they wanted to see SUFFER.

But they didn't want to kill her. Not yet anyway. That's why they took Ming.

Ming was an ordinary boy, as things go. His parents weren't the worst that ever were, but neither were they the best either, and the streets were a more attractive way to spend his time than home or school. He probably would have ended up as a statistic used by politicians and police chiefs in fear mongering campaigns about what was wrong with the youths of today except he lucked out. His family's apartment was near Tong's bar, so Tong had seen Ming all the time growing up. When Ming started the inevitable drift toward the dark and gangs, Tong had given Ming a job running errands and stocking the backroom. It didn't work, not completely, but the little cash that Tong could afford to pay Ming was a good enough incentive to keep him out of the worst of trouble.

Mai had meet Ming two years ago, when she returned to Hong Kong and Tong had given her a job bouncing his bar for free as rent for living in the small studio on the second floor. Mai had thought Ming was a snot-nosed little punk. Ming had thought so too, only less of the little and snot-nosed and more the badassed, and swaggered up to her spouting off inane "me bad gangsta talk." She rolled her eyes and ignored him, but then he tried to get handsy. She had smacked him hard enough to teach him that he needed to grow a foot, at least five years, and wait for his balls to drop before trying that again. Then he saw her punch out a drunk who had about 6 inches and almost a hundred pounds on her later that night. This entrenched the "tall, bad ass older chick is _hawt_" crush on his brain and Ming followed her around.

He never did stop trying to ape those stupid stereotyped gangbangers from TV and the movies, but he was essentially harmless. She even liked him, really—he reminded her a lot of herself as a kid (though she had been not as dumb, _obviously)_, and was ultimately just trying to get by in a world that wasn't about to help. Mai did regret not being able to say goodbye.

After she had been forced to leave, Ming had continued hanging around the bar even though it wasn't exact the safe option. Tong had tried to make him leave and tell him that Mai was probably never coming back—look kid, they literally bombed her ass outta here, all right?—but Ming wouldn't go. Tong was even hard-pressed in those first few days trying to convince the kid that going after the Creepy Triad himself was among the stupidest things anyone could do.

All this amounted to was when the Creepy Triad decided that they needed someone to lure Mai back to Hong Kong, of her common associates Ming was the one who with the least ability to fight back and the easiest to hold hostage until Mai did what they demanded she do.

But what they were demanding she do was…well, it wasn't dumb but—"They want me to do _what? _You are shitting me, right?"

Tong shook his head. "I _wish. _But that's what they told me to tell you."

Mai ran a hand through her hair as she tried to process this. "Really? Goddamn it... Fine, ok, kinda smart because they got a fall guy, well girl, if things go south. But asking _me? _Do they really want this to _work? _If not, wouldn't it be easier just to snuff my ass when my plane touched down?"

"Hey, don't look at me," Tong said. "I told them that your talents didn't lie that way, they already _know _what you're good at and it sure as hell ain't this. But they said that they want _you _to do the job."

"God." Mai flopped back on the bed. "Shit."


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: Again, not mine._

_Author's note: So…what was the rest of the cast doing?_

**Chapter 14**

Wring her neck, that was what Tasuki was going to do. Wring her neck, She had a nice long neck too, so that would make it a whole lot easier to wrap his hands around it and _squeeze._

It wasn't enough that that _woman _had somehow managed to hijack his spring break just because she was so stupid as to go haring off like a headless chicken (ok, so actually it was that old hag that had strong-armed them on to the plane, but it was Mai's fault). He had been thinking about going up to visit Kouji and the guys, or maybe bringing them all down to campus for some good old Reikaku fun. His housemates were fun and all, but a week without worrying about messing up Hotohori's and Nuriko's sensibilities, Chichiri's morals, and Mitsukake's silence, a week where he could booze all day, and pick fights, and be, you know, as freaking male and macho as he _wanted _ to be was kind of appealing.

And then that damn Mai had to go and skip town, making her former guardian come down on them in her old haggy wrath to make them bring her back. What the hell? Mai was a big girl. Why _couldn't _she go to fucking Hong Kong for spring break if she wanted to? This was never satisfactorily explained to him. Taiitsukun said _something _was going to happen_, _enough that they got on the damn plane, but when he thought about it…he couldn't remember exactly what it was.

Something_ dire_, apparently, which is why they were now trolling through dirty bars in some foreign land where no one spoke anything _he _understood. And their translator through this inner city Hong Kong gritty was a terminally shy medical student. And her boyfriend who, although not as fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin as his girl, still could recognize enough to get dangerously upset about what some of the locals were saying to and about her.

Chichiri. Mad. It boggled the imagination. Tasuki hadn't thought Chichiri _got _mad, he thought he just fished or something.

What the _hell _was he doing here? Meian was the translator, and if Meian was going, Chichiri was too. Ok, that made sense. But him? Taiitsukun apparently thought him being _there _when she laid the bomb down was enough, which was not improving his mood any. Ok, so Mai was kinda sorta a friend, maybe. And he didn't want to see her come to harm, but really?

But there they were, tramping along amidst smoky, fetid air, crammed streets damp with trash, refuse, and other things that Tasuki preferred not to look at. The closeness of the air here made everything hot and sticky. The number of people also ensured that the noise never stopped and always changed for the louder. Not two of those people could agree on a color scheme either, apparently, except that everything should be as _bright _as possible, which made the redhead's eyes hurt. Tasuki grew up in the mountains. He wasn't _used _to this.

Yes, wring her neck.

They had to find her first, of course. But where the hell _was _she? They had arrived in Hong Kong too late to be much use for anything but crash the first night. But they had gotten up at some ungodly hour this morning to look. Despite going pretty damn deep into Hong Kong's heart from what Meian could remember from Mai's childhood, they had come up with squat. Tasuki would have thought that a loud, foul-mouthed woman just two inches shy of six feet would kinda stand out.

"Maybe we aren't going deep enough?" Meian said worriedly.

Night had fallen, and they had finally given up for the day. They were taking a break for their aching feet and grabbing a quick dinner at a street side café on the way back to the hotel. Bowls of noodles steamed in front of them as they poured over the city map of Hong Kong.

"Well, no da…" Chichiri scratched his head and tapped the map with a chopstick. "We've been here and here and here…is there anything else you remember?"

"I don't know…" Meian bit her lip. "I'm sorry, I don't remember—I mean, Mai never really liked to talk about her past much…"

"Gee, I fucking wonder why…" Tasuki muttered as he shoved some noodles into his mouth. Well, ok. At least they had some pretty damn good street food here.

Chichiri gave him a sharp look as Meian looked dejected.

_Gah. _Tasuki cursed his soft spot for sad females. "Can't we call the old hag and ask _her _for any ideas? I mean, she adopted Mai here, didn't she?"

Meian fiddled with her chopsticks. "Well, yes but…I already tried calling her last night. Taiitsukun doesn't really know a whole lot more than I do. Just that, you know, Mai grew up here, and then after her father was killed she—"

"Wait, _what_?"

Meian blinked. "Oh, umm…well, you didn't know that she's an orphan?"

"Yeah, but there's a hell of a lot of difference between her parents kicking it because they got sick or something and her dad being fucking _killed!"_

"Hey, calm down no da—"

"What, did _you _know?"

"Well, no," Chichiri admitted.

"What the hell happened?"

Meian sighed. "Don't tell her I told you this, ok? After her mother died, Mai and her father came to Hong Kong to live with her uncle and her cousin. But they were sort of…useless, Mai said," Tasuki snorted, he was pretty sure Mai had used saltier terms than _useless,_" so her father had to make all the money for them to live on. But he had trouble finding work, and times were tough, so he would have to go for days and days at time. He also didn't tell her that he'd had to take a loan from one of the local loan sharks and couldn't pay. One day…well…"

"His time ran out," Tasuki finished.

Meian nodded. "Mai found him a couple days before New Year's. That's the reason why she hates the holidays."

There was a pause as they all fell into an awkward silence. Then Chichiri said, "Well, what about the uncle and cousin no da?"

Meian frowned. "What about them?"

"Well…did Mai ever tell you where they lived no da? I know she wasn't fond of them, but they still might be able to tell us where she could be now."

Meian thought about it and then her green eyes fell again. "No…"

_Goddammit. _"What about that huge guy who came around in January?" Tasuki said, grabbing at straws. The last thing he wanted was to have Meian start crying at the table, because then he'd feel shitty even though it wasn't even his fault, it was Mai and her stupid insistence on being a goddamn _mystery _and—

"That's it!" Meian's eyes suddenly lit up like green lamps. "Shan! I _do _know where he lives!"

* * *

Well, she didn't know. Not exactly.

Mai, being oh so forthcoming with her past that she was practically _vomiting _with details, as Chichiri's friend Tasuki so colorfully put it, dripping sarcasm like his tongue was made of it, didn't actually tell Meian a whole heck of a lot. After her father died, Mai ran away from home and lived on the streets for a while. Later she apparently hooked up with a mercenary named Shan. Not hooked up like _perversion _and _pedophilia, _but as in Shan took her in like you might take in a stray feral kitten. Shan gave her food and a roof over her head and some pointers on how to make her way (including some rather unorthodox training in various firearms, blades and ways achieve things that weren't strictly legal) every once in a while.

Mai slip some vague details about the section of town Shan lived in, and who some of his neighbors were, but an exact street address these most certainly were _not. _Meian, though, was so happy to have _something _to start with, was all for heading there right then and banging on some doors, but between then Tasuki and Chichiri managed to convince her that this late at night (and it would be even later by the time they got across town) they wouldn't get anything for their trouble but slammed doors and yelling. Better to start in the morning.

So again they woke up very early in the morning, and Tasuki was not in a very good mood. Chichiri wasn't really either. This whole business was starting to eat away at his Zen, but of the two he had better control of his temper than his friend. Also, Meian was acutely aware that while Mai was _her _friend, she wasn't really Chichiri's and only maybe Tasuki's and the only reason why either of them was there with her at all was because Chichiri cared for _her _and Taiitsukun made them go. Meian was sincerely contrite about what a pain this all was, if still determined to go on her own if need be, so that made getting mad harder. Or at least, induced a guilty feeling.

Still, Chichiri felt, they had better find _something _soon, or they weren't going to last much longer. Despite narrowing Shan's neighborhood down, it took most of the day to actually _find _his place. And when they _found _his place, he wasn't there. And hadn't been for some time. And wasn't expected back anytime soon either.

"Do you know where he went?" Meian asked somewhat desperately.

"Sorry," said the landlady who lived downstairs. She was wearing a somewhat horrifying combination of a floral house dress, fuzzy slipper and curlers, despite the fact that it was almost lunch. Chichiri didn't even know such a presentation existed outside of movie and TV clichés. She was cooking something inside that smelled rather pungently of garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil and squid.

Looking at Meian's face, she did relent a little. Chichiri wasn't surprised. Honestly, that was probably the only reason that they had gotten so far in the first place. His girlfriend could be so sincere and innocent sometimes that he wondered if she was for real. Then she would look at him with those lovely green eyes and sandy blonde hair and smile _just _for him and he would decide that he didn't really care.

Once Meian explained who she was looking for and flashed Mai's picture, the landlady said that she did remember Mai. Mai used to stop by often whenever Shan was in town. She didn't live there, but the landlady thought that she had heard that Mai lived and worked at a bar a couple neighborhoods over. Not sure if she was still there—Mai hadn't been around lately. She couldn't remember the name of the bar, but they even got the name of the bar owner and Mai's employer—Mai had certainly complained about him and the clientele of the bar enough.

Having gotten all that they could out of the landlady, the trio then trooped over the next few neighborhoods looking for this bar. The only problem was that there were _lots _of bars. By the sun started setting, all of them were hot, sweaty, and badly in need of a drink. They nearly collapsed into the last bar, a dingy place probably kept open because it was the only one at the end of the street. It certainly wasn't for its looks—the entire second story had been gutted by fire as if some giant flaming fist had punched through it.

Meian gasped out a request for water in Cantonese once they were inside. The bartender gave her a look and jabbered back something at her. Chichiri's Cantonese wasn't good enough to understand exactly what the man said, but his tone and manner translated across clearly enough.

As Tasuki had noted earlier, Chichiri did not get mad easily or often. However, these were special circumstances.

His fist shot out like a snake. Crumpling the fabric at the man's collar and gripping hard enough to make him gasp for air, Chichiri dragged the man forward.

"Apologize," he said in accented Cantonese and shook him hard enough to make teeth rattle. The fact that his smile was still fixed in place yet his eyes had slitted open to reveal cold brown irises made it all the more terrifying. Tasuki's mouth had dropped open in shock and Meian's green eyes were wide.

"Wait," she said, "Chichiri, please—"

The man hastily grinned sickly and muttered something at Meian. Again, Chichiri wasn't sure what he said, but from Meian's expression and quick nod, he assumed it was the requested apology. His fingers came loose and the bartender backed up, still grinning in a most ghastly manner and rubbing his neck. In an exaggerated fashion so as to not give the slightest hint that he intended any offense, he reached under the bar and pulled out three rather grubby glasses of water. Chichiri looked at them and was about to grab the man again and demand cleaner tumblers, but Meian put a small hand on his arm and bobbed a quick thank you to the bartender. Chichiri sighed and pulled out a stool for her to sit on instead.

Tasuki, who was sitting on the other side of him, examined his glass. "I think that there is something in mine," he complained, but drank it anyway. "So what the hell do we do now? We've looked fucking everywhere and our only lead's left town."

Meian flapped her dress a little to get a bit of cooling breeze. She was oblivious to the looks some of the patrons were giving her but Chichiri edged closer and used his eyes to pin them to the wall.

"I don't know," she admitted, curling her hands around her glass. "I'm sorry, I really didn't think that it would be this hard. I mean, Mai never told me much about her past, and I didn't want to _pry, _but I thought that she would have been more…you know…"

"Memorable?" Tasuki finished dryly.

"Yes." Meian looked dejected and Chichiri put one arm around her to drop a comforting kiss on top of her head.

"Hmph," Tasuki snorted. "What the hell. This is just fucking like her, you know? And damn, what the hell happened upstairs? It looks like somebody bombed the place."

Meian suddenly stiffened and nearly knocked into Chichiri's chin. "Wait, this is a bar, isn't it?"

Chichiri and Tasuki stared at her and then at each other. "Well…yes, no da."

She jumped off her stool and ran outside. The two men traded glances again and ran after her. Meian, ignoring their questions, stared up at the ruined second story before hopping up and down and pointing excitedly at the sign.

"This is it! It is!"

"Is what?" Tasuki demanded.

"She didn't tell me much," said Meian, words tumbling out, "but she did say that she used to live over a bar and had to leave suddenly. But! She had to get a whole bunch of new things when school started because a lot of her old stuff was blown up!"

She beamed at them.

Tasuki looked like he was about to say that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard, why would someone want to blow Mai up? Then he stopped and thought, hell, this was _Mai _that they were talking about here.

Chichiri came to the same conclusion. "Wouldn't hurt to ask, no da," he said. "We don't have anything better." And Meian gave him one of those bright happy smiles that made his insides melt.

Tasuki snorted in disgust and marched back inside.

The bartender looked up as they re-entered and he must have read something in Tasuki's face because he then tried to flee to the back room. The redhead wasn't having any of that—he jumped the bar and pinned the man down to the sticky floor. The bartender didn't want to talk to them. Chichiri couldn't blame him. If Chichiri had been the owner of a bar so close to the edge it only took one good whiff to blow over, metaphorically speaking, he wouldn't be too keen on talking to a bunch of foreigners either.

But just because he could sympathize didn't mean that this man wasn't any less frustrating to deal with. But while Chichiri was losing his Zen, Tasuki had so long ago lost his temper that it was surprising that he hadn't burst into flame yet. But Chichiri couldn't have Tasuki barbequing the man and bringing down the cops on them, assuming that cops came down this far, and also vaulted to the bar to pull his friend off.

"Goddamnit!" Tasuki shouted. "Lemme go! We've spent two fucking days wandering around with no fucking purpose, I'm not about to spend another looking for that stupid Chian Mai if this guy knows something!"

"Beating someone up is not the right way to get them to answer questions no da…"

"The hell it isn't!"

"I-I'm so s-sorry," Meian stammered as she came around to help the bartender up. "A-Are you okay? We're just looking for my friend Chian Mai and we haven't had any luck for two days, it's been very frustrating and—"

The bartender looked at her and then looked at Tasuki, "You act just like her," he spat.

Meian, Chichiri and Tasuki stared at him. He'd just spoken clear, if slightly accented, Japanese.

Meian recovered first. "Act just like…wait, you know Mai?"

The bartender stood up, brushed himself off, and gave Tasuki another stink-eye look. Then he looked at the patrons in the bar (who were watching the whole exchange avidly) and jabbered something in Cantonese that made them all cringe and shake their heads in denial. "My name is Tong," he said, still speaking in Japanese. "Come on into the back."

Looking at each other, they followed into the back storeroom. Tong crossed his arms and looked at them. "How do you know Mai?"

"Friends of hers from Japan no da," Chichiri replied. "How do _you _know her?"

"She used to work for me." Tong's eyes narrowed. "Wait, does she _know _that you are here? I mean, I thought that she would have said something-"

"You saw her?" Meian asked.

Tong's face made a sour expression. "Dammit, I didn't mean to say that."

Tasuki snorted.

"Fine, I'm guessing that she _doesn't _know that you are here," Tong said, ignoring him. "And since you have been looking for her for two days, I'm guessing that she didn't tell you that she was coming here in the first place. And since she didn't tell you, don't you think she had a damn good reason for not doing that? Best thing for you all to do is hop back on the first place back to Japan."

"We can't do that," Meian protested, "we—"

"You have no idea what you are blundering into," Tong continued, cutting her off. "She ain't here for some _vacation._ The only reason I even spoke up back there is because if I didn't, you'd end up in a gutter somewhere with all the questions you are asking."

"But—"

"And don't think that you can help. That girl's in a hell's pot right now, and all sorts of things are bubbling up. _She _shouldn't have come back either, but she's just like her father, more loyalty than sense. I can't do anything about that now."

"I—"

"I'll tell her that you were here, all right? But get out of here now. Be the smartest thing that you'll ever do, and she'll thank you for it. "

"_STOP INTERRUPTING ME."_

The air froze into a solid block of surprise and three jaws dropped as they stared at Meian.

Green eyes snapping, she glared at Tong. "Stop interrupting me," she said, "it's very rude. And excuse me, but just who do you think you are? How _dare _you try and pack us off like, like, like a bunch of ill-mannered brats? I didn't come all the way here and tramp around for _two days _just to turn around. No, Mai didn't tell us where she was going. Yes, I am very sure that she had her reasons for doing that. But who says that we can't help? How _dare _you and her and anyone else judge us when you won't even tell us what is going on? We are going to find her. I am going to demand she give me an explanation and then _maybe _we'll help. But neither you nor her gets to decide what we can and will do!"

Meian glared at Tong so hard that Chichiri was afraid the man would go up in flames. Tong blinked and swallowed.

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"You are damn right I put it that way!"

Tong swallowed again. "But I really don't know where she is."

"WHAT?"

He held out placating hands. "No really," he pleaded, looking uneasily at Meian. "I mean, she was arrived yesterday and spent the night with me and my wife, but she was gone when we woke up the next morning. Didn't leave a note. I swear!"

Meian glared at him a few beats more, then frowned as it appeared he was telling the truth. "Oh."

"Well, where might she have gone?" Tasuki demanded. "You gotta have some idea, right?" From somewhere his tessen appeared threateningly.

This time three stares were directed at the redhead. "How did you get that through airport security no da?" demanded Chichiri.

"Eh," shrugged the redhead and didn't elaborate.

Tong was staring in surprise for a different reason. "How the hell did you get Eiken's fan?"

Tasuki stiffened. "You know Eiken?"

Tong blinked. "He's a two-bit loan shark around here. He used be a lot more until it got out that his tessen was actually a fake made of our metallic paint and plastic. Is that the real thing?" He squinted at it but then hurriedly backed up as it flicked up and out to point at him.

"Yes," said Tasuki, eyes glinting evilly.

"I told you, I don't know where she is!"

"And _I _said you must have some idea."

Tong sagged against the wall. "Dammit, you _are _just like her."

"Am not! My temper ain't nearly as bad!" He heard Chichiri cough back a laugh and spun around. "Hey!"

Chichiri looked innocently at the ceiling. "Well no da…"

Meian smiled hesitantly. "It's really a very close call," she said in what was probably supposed to be a placating tone.

"Oh for fuck's sake," Tasuki muttered. He spun around to face Tong again. "Well?"


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: You read the previous chapters? Then ditto._

**Chapter 14**

Mai looked up at the club's sign and made a face at the name. It was in incredibly bad taste. But then again…she looked down at herself and made another face. She was certainly _dressed _for bad taste.

"Dammit," she muttered. "Why'd _this _have to be my last resort?"

She'd left Tong's early that morning after grabbing a piece of fruit and a bun from the kitchen. His explanation from the night before had certainly illuminated things, but she need to verify it from another source first. Tong was her friend (sort of), but the Creepy Triad had gotten to him, after all. Provided that what he said was true, it also wouldn't hurt to ask some questions of her own too.

It took longer than she'd thought. Her sources were not very cooperative. Six months might not be a long time in the great scheme of things, but it was ages in the underworld, and the Triad had gotten to them too. No one wanted to talk to her. Oh, they eventually did after Mai convinced them that it was the healthy option, but not willingly. They did verify Tong's story though.

Not that Mai had put an ounce of faith in the Triad's promise that they would let Mai and Ming go once Mai did the job for them. Stupid Mai was _not—_they'd kill them both as soon as the bauble was in hand. But then again, they'd kill them both _anyway _if the bauble wasn't in hand.

So Mai's best bet was to pretend to go along while trying to find out a way to get Ming back from under their noses. But she had to find out where they were keeping him first.

For a contact that could potentially achieve both goals, Eiken was a pretty good bet.

But…

Mai suppressed a shiver. But why did it _have _to be _him_?

That's why she was at this stupid tacky club wearing these stupid clothes. Eiken never left the strings of clubs he ran for the Triad, the fat lazy bastard, and they didn't just let anyone in. Given their past history, if Mai tried going in wearing her usual clothes and usual fists and feet flying, Eiken would throw his men at her and escape out the back door. Then she would have to chase him down again, and waste a whole lot of time doing so. No, better to get him now, where she _knew _he was at his favorite club, and not expose herself to his pervert assholery any more than strictly necessary. That meant a different sort of approach…

She gritted her teeth, straightened her posture to push her chest out and fought not to fall on her face as she strutted across the street in six inch spikes. Every tomboy nerve in her body screamed out in embarrassment and shame as she did so, but evidently the slut dress and slut makeup that Tong's wife and cousins in the designer knockoff business did the trick (_obviously, _slut wasn't the adjective that they used though, something about "sultry smoky eyes" and shimmery body con). The bouncer at the door looked like he almost swallowed his tongue as she crushed her pride under a silver stiletto and undulated toward him.

"Hello," she said breathily, skipping to the front of the long line. _God, I so sound asthmatic. Ming you little punk, I will _kill _you after this. _"Can I come in?"

Eiken's clubs had only two rules for admittance—you were either rich enough to pay the absurd entrance fee, or you were hot. Evidently Mai qualified for the latter because the bouncer undid the velvet rope as he undressed her with his eyes and waved her inside without the slightest hesitation.

Ignoring the cries of outrage and frustration from the partiers still waiting outside, Mai walked forward into the club. It was, if possible, even darker than the night outside. The blackness was leavened here and there with strobing lights, neon chased catwalks, and several back-lit bars. The noise was incredible, and Mai could feel the bass pounding in her temples. Her eyes scanned the floor. There were several alcoves in the back with thick, muffling velvet curtains for the uber-rich and she would bet the bank that Eiken was in one of those. It was the work of a moment to stop by one of the bars, drop an insinuation, and then get instantly pointed to which one. Mai walked away quickly so the bartender couldn't see her face. The ass was probably grinning at _her_ ass right now, and she _knew _he thought that she was one of Eiken's hookers. God, she was going to _kill _Ming right after she rescued him…

* * *

Obviously it wasn't as easy to get the info out of Tong as all that, but eventually the bartender caved. It was the combination of Tasuki's tessen in his face, Chichiri's rapidly decreasing Zen, and Meian losing her temper again.

Later, Tasuki would admit that it was probably Meian that did it. If Chichiri getting angry was pretty surprising, Meian doing so was downright shocking. It was like a fluffy white bunny suddenly growing fangs and savaging you. Pretty damn disturbing.

So reluctantly Tong sketched out the briefest of gists about what was going on. Mai had gotten on the wrong side of a trio of gangsters (Tong called them the Creepy Triad, but didn't elaborate) on the payroll of the greater Hong Kong Triad and who happened to run this neighborhood. They had ambitions to expand their influence, but Mai had seriously messed that up. They had tried to rub her out, but she escaped. But now they had kidnapped a friend of hers and she was trying to get him back.

Tong had been telling the truth—he _didn't _know where Mai was. But Tasuki was right too—Tong could make a pretty good guess, one that was confirmed when his wife came back from grocery shopping. His wife was far friendlier than her sourpuss of a husband and was delighted to meet Mai's friends. After introductions were done, the woman was only too happy to gush about what a pretty girl Mai was and how nice it was to see her go partying like normal young women her age.

To which there was a collective, "huh?"

Apparently Mai had dropped by Tong's apartment earlier that afternoon and asked for help getting dressed to go to one of the hottest clubs in town. She didn't have any suitable clothes or makeup, so Tong's wife had called up some of her cousins who worked in the designer counterfeits and knockoffs to help. Between them all they had converged on Mai in a whirlwind of eyeshadow, lipstick and mini-dresses, with a result that Tong's wife pronounced as absolutely gorgeous.

Tong, Tasuki, Chichiri and Meian had all looked at each other. Obviously the housewife didn't know Mai very well—there was no way in hell that she would submit herself to such treatment if she didn't have to. So it didn't surprise then that the name of the club that Mai said she was going to was Eiken's favorite. Eiken, who was one of the Triad's main money makers.

Which was why now Tasuki, Chichiri and Meian were now out clubbing there too. Tasuki sighed and plucked at his shirt. Borrowed of course. None of the threads that the three of them had hastily packed were club worthy, so they appealed to Tong's wife who was happy to oblige. New clothes were sufficient enough for Tasuki and Chichiri, but Meian took a little extra effort. The med student's pretty, sweet as pie looks were certainly enough for her boyfriend but would stick out like a sore thumb in a not so innocent nightclub that laundered the Triad's dirty money, and acted as a front for various smuggling operations and loan-sharking. The cousins came through again though, with a leg baring leather miniskirt, silky white tank, and artful application of makeup that took Meian's looks from innocent to sexy. It was almost worth it to see Chichiri's jaw hit the floor. Of course, that also meant that Chichiri was glued to her side in protective boyfriend stance at the club, but posing as the couple they were wasn't going to do any serious damage—people either came to these places looking to hookup or to flaunt who they were hooked up with.

They arrived at the place early through a backdoor, courtesy of an acquaintance of Tong's who worked at one of the various drinks stations inside the cavernous building. Chichiri and Meian circuited one side of the room, and Tasuki did the other. If they saw Mai, they were to text the others.

Tasuki had to admit that he was impressed that Eiken had done so well for himself. It was easy to see why this club was so popular—the bars were well-stocked with quality stuff, the furniture was expensive, and the décor was cutting edge. Who would have thought that slob had it in him? Tasuki had met him just after he and Kouji were inducted as full gang members of the Reikaku Bandits as a result of saving the chief from the lethal side of a bullet and explosion. While the chief was laid up in the hospital recuperating, it had been somewhat disorganized with their leader being out of the action and the still needed clean up after a vicious turf war that just barely left the Bandits the victors. Eiken took advantage and tried to stage a coup. Tasuki and Kouji responded by Tasuki stealing his family tessen out of the heirloom vault and Kouji rallying the rest of the gang to beat Eiken's ass but good. Evidently, the scum had washed up here…

And then Tasuki nearly choked on the one drink he was allowing himself here, so he could keep a clear head. The bartender, on the other hand, did drop the glass he was holding on his foot, but didn't seem to register the pain.

Probably the hottest woman in existence had just walked in. In some trick of timing, one of the strobing lights fell on her, illuminating her fine form for all to see. She was tall, tidy curves outlined nicely in a shimmery deep blue dress that wrapped tightly around her. The skirt rode high on her thighs, baring impossibly long legs ending in strappy silver stilettos. Her face was just as striking, with cheekbones that could cut glass, and large almond shaped eyes framed in lush lashes. Inky black hair waved past her waist.

She walked to the bartender and asked him a question in Cantonese but it might as well have been Klingon from the way he gawked at her. She pursed those red full lips in annoyance and repeated the question. This time she got a stammered reply and a wave of direction. Nodding her thanks, she swayed off. For a few seconds after, Tasuki and the bartender stared in stupefaction.

After those few seconds, other thoughts started to creep back in. Now that Tasuki could think again, something about those eyes seemed very familiar. Though, if he knew someone with an ass like that, don't you think you'd remember it? You'd certainly remember eyes like that, tilted up a little at the corners and the same color as her dress, blue like deepest heart of sapphires…

Suddenly he swore and slammed his glass down on the bar counter. _That look of irritation. _He ripped out his cell phone and began frantically texting Chichiri as he forced his way through the crowd.

* * *

Mai probably didn't need to ask the bartender after all. Eiken looked like a pig, acted like a pig, and smelled like a pig. Once she got close enough, the stench wafted out of the velvet curtains even through the heavy smells of smoke, perfume and drinks. Tightening her grip on the ridiculous little white purse, she took a deep breath, instantly regretted it, and flipped the curtain aside.

Eiken looked up.

Mai fought not to retch. Eiken sweated like a pig too, and it was very hot and close in here. And goddammit, did the ass get _uglier _in the last six months? He didn't seem to recognize her in this getup though, and aimed a leer at her from between two other hotties snuggled to his sides like bunions.

"Hey," he slurred through a mouth still half full of liquor. His Cantonese was badly accented and made even worse by the inebriation. His beady eyes, slightly glazed in the light, gave her a once over and lingered repulsively on her legs, hips and chest. He gave a sloppy "OK" sign. "I _approve._" He reached out pudgy fingers to her legs. "Those go all th'way up?"

A greasy fingertip brushed her thigh and Mai lost it.

Her purse slammed into the side of his head hard enough to knock the drunkard over onto one of the hookers, who screamed. Mai wasn't sure if she was more upset about Eiken or the drink spilling over her dress, but didn't care. Part of her was annoyed that after squeezing herself into this damn dress and suffering to have makeup gooped all over her face, all subtlety was lost but…well, she had gotten _in _without incident, and that would have to do. Subtlety was not her strong point. She would just have to be quick.

"Get out," she snapped at the call girls. When they didn't move fast enough for her, she grabbed a fistful of money from the table and threw it out of the enclave for them to scramble after. Turning back to the groaning gangster, she pulled out the gun that gave her purse so much weight. "Get up," she snapped again, this time to Eiken and in Japanese. When he didn't move, she grabbed one of the tumblers from the table and threw the contents at him.

Eiken yelped as the alcohol splashed over the fresh wound on his head and he howled an obscenity at her. She rolled her eyes and leaned forward to smack him again.

"Oh, quit howling," Mai said. She cleared a spot on the table to sit. Pulling out a silencer from purse, she began screwing it on. "_Look_ at me, asshole. I ain't exactly seeking your company for pleasure you know. We need to talk."

"About what? Who the fuck are you?" he sneered.

In a swift movement, she tilted the gun up to fire into the wall above his head and then jammed the end deep into the fleshy double chins before Eiken could flinch away. He howled again as the hot metal burned his skin. "You don't remember me?" she sneered. "I'm hurt, really. You'd think after beating you within an inch of your fucking miserable life, I'd make more of an impression. You _really _don't remember me blowing up all of your warehouses and watching all those millions of yuan in drugs go poof? It was only last summer, after all. Is your memory that fucking bad?"

Eiken's expressions during this speech morphed from arrogant bravado to growing horror. "Y-y-you! I thought you were dead!"

She smiled nastily. "Actually, I'm surprised that _you _aren't. You must have lost Tenkou, Renhou and Miiru a _lot _of money, didn't you? And the whole damn thing was your fault to start with. But still, they keep you around." Mai cocked her head to one side as she considered him. "I always thought you were kind of a pig. But pigs get slaughtered, don't they? Maybe you are more like a cockroach…"

Eiken pushed himself as deeply back into the couch as he could go.

She gave him a look that told him that she knew exactly what he was doing. "Now, so I don't have to breathe the same shitty air as you one moment longer, _where is Ming?"_

* * *

Tasuki found Chichiri and Meian.

"You saw her?" Meian asked.

Tasuki nodded. "But then I lost her in the crowd." He let out a curse could have set the air on fire.

Just then a pair of scantily dressed ladies came storming by to harass one of the bouncers. They screamed so shrilly at the men that Meian had to cover her ears and Chichiri started pulling her away when the duo then started pointing furiously at one of the enclaves in the back. Meian lowered her hands and her eyes went wide.

"What did they say no da?" asked Chichiri urgently.

"They're saying that a crazy woman with long black hair and, er, 'freakishly tall'—"

"Sounds like Mai," Tasuki muttered.

"—kicked them out of the enclave before they got paid."

Chichiri eyed the wads of bills stuffed into each of the call girls cleavage. "Really."

"So they are demanding more money because it's unlikely that their, um, client is going to give them any because the tall woman is beating him to death."

"Definitely sounds like Mai," Tasuki muttered again. He was about to ask if they mentioned just _which _of the enclaves they got booted out of, but had his answer when one of the bouncers started shouting urgently into his radio. This sent a trio of others beelining to the back.

"Damn it," Tasuki hissed, and took off with Meian and Chichiri right behind him.

* * *

Mai scowled. Eiken was proving to be unexpectedly stubborn, despite some rather…violent punctuation on her part because of her rapidly shortening temper. Maybe she shouldn't have bothered to get dressed up…she was sure that she could have smacked him into submission with her favorite black combat boots, but instead she was in this ridiculous dress and dinky stupid heels. It was the getup that kept making him waver between lust and fear, resulting in the latter not being enough to tip him into tattling on his bosses. Okay, if she was in her using tee-shirt and jeans, he _still _would be leering, as he leered at practically anything with a vagina, but at least her _assets _wouldn't be so damn out there to ogle.

She was running out of time. "Look," she snapped furiously, "what the hell is wrong with you? Do I not have a gun? Am I not _hurting you _right now? Tell me what I want to know, and I'll leave, dammit!" She jabbed him with a heel.

Eiken, a drink soaked bruised mess, just groaned. Mai took a deep breath—to do what, she was never really sure—when a suit popped in. He was all clean lines and professionalism, except for the tousled blond hair cut precisely to look like it had _not _been cut and looked that sexily disheveled on its own.

"Sir," the suit said in Chinese, "are you all right? There—" He never got to what there was, because the blue eyes widened as they took her in. Like Eiken, it took him a moment given that it wasn't what her usual getup, but unlike Eiken, he wasn't drunk out of his mind and so his neurons fired a lot faster.

Too bad it still wasn't quick enough.

Mai's eyes narrowed. "You _bastard."_

* * *

Tasuki arrived just in time to have a body thrown at him.

"The hell?" he said, and dodged. The man landed on the couch behind him, causing the former occupants to scream and vacant the premises.

"The hell?" Tasuki said again, and turned to face front. Out of the nearest curtained enclave stalked out the hottie in the blue dress from before. She was looking a little more disheveled then she had been at the entrance, but the overwhelming fury on her face was more than enough. It practically burned the air. If battle goddesses had raven hair and wore satin blue minidresses with silver stilettos, she would have been deified on the spot.

The redhead reflected on just how messed up he must be to find that fury as hot as it was _really fucking scary. _

Sweat gleamed off her skin as she shouted profanities out of those perfect lips (they were in Chinese, but certain sentiments crossed language barriers), and charged past him without seeing him. She stumbled a little in those high heels until she ripped them off and began battering the guy on the couch with them. When she flipped to using the points, Tasuki decided that was enough. They had attracted enough attention as it was, they didn't need a corpse as well.

Time to see if his guess was right… He grabbed her wrist in mid-swing. "Mai!"

She turned toward him with a snarl and then her mouth dropped open. "What the _fuck?_"

Tasuki hid an inner grim. _Knew it. _"Look, we ain't got time to deal with a dead body."

"Tasuki? What the _hell _are you doing here?"

"Down!" he yelled.

Spitting out carpet, she glared at him. "Thank you," she said nastily, and threw her shoe at the gunman. It hit him in the head with surprising force and knocked him backward. She lunged and grabbed his gun as his arm came up and slammed his head the rest of the way into the floor. She came up firing, causing the rest of the bodyguards to take cover.

In the following silence, Tasuki whistled.

"M-mai?" came a trembling voice.

Mai froze. "God _damn _it. Meian?"

Meian and Chichiri peeked over the top of the couch they had taken refuge behind. "H-Hi no da," said Chichiri somewhat shakily.

Mai stared at them. "What's next," she snapped. "Is Chiriko and Hotohori and Nuriko and the rest of the whole damn crew going to show up?"

Meian smiled at her nervously. "I hope not."

Mai opened her mouth to—

Tasuki stepped in. "Hey, do you mind waiting to scream at us after we _get the fuck out of here?"_

The redhead waved a hand at the horde of black suits advancing. The regular nightclub guests had fled, but the first set of guards had called for backup. Backup that was considerably better equipped.

In a frighteningly unthinking action, Mai brought up the gun again and fired. Once. After repeated empty clicking, she swore, and slapped a hand around her person comically before Tasuki tackled her to the ground again before her head could get shot off.

"Ow!"

"Don't even start," he snapped. "Chichiri? Meian? You ok?"

"F-fine," Meian called shakily.

"Fine," her boyfriend said.

A hail of gunfire made them all cringe and duck down lower behind the couches.

"Well, fuck," said Mai, looking at the wall behind them that was becoming less a wall and more a bit of cheesecloth.

"Yeah, _fuck." _Tasuki glared at her. "What exactly was your plan here? Besides, you know, beat the crap out of the club owner in a very obvious way and get shot at by his hundred fucking _million _gangster goons? I mean, what the hell?"

"Shut up! It wasn't supposed to turn out this way."

"Oh, _thank you. _That makes me feel so fucking much better, it wasn't _supposed _to end up us getting killed after they come over here to pump our bodies full of fucking lead!"

She glared at him. "I have another gun."

"Yeah? Where?"

The glare faded, and she looked faintly embarrassed as her eyes slid to the velvet alcove she had come out of…which was rather inconveniently far away.

Tasuki rolled his eyes. "You have _got _to be kidding me. You _left _it in there?"

"I was distracted!"

"By throwing a body at me!"

"I didn't know you were there! And he had it coming!"

A small ovoid object bounced over the couch next to Chichiri. The blue haired man blinked. "Grenade."

"_What?_"

BOOM.

"WHAT THE MOTHERFUCKING HELL?"

"It was only a little one, no da. I threw it back."

"I-I think that i-it t-took out one of-of the drink s-stations."

"Oh my god…" Mai screwed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Tasuki snarled. "All right, fuck this shit. Everyone, keep your heads _down._" Reaching underneath his jacket, Tasuki pulled out a-

"Hey, what are you—is that a _fan? _What the hell are you doing with a fan?"

"There's a back door out of here, right?"

"Yes, but—"

"And you know where it is?"

"What—"

"_You know where it is?"_

Mai leaned back. The flames were reflecting in the redhead's eyes. She nodded.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: OOC's are mine. AU fanfic events here are mine. FY is not, though I am using the characters for my own amusement.

Author's note: Mai finally gets smacked.

**Chapter 16**

Mai didn't like to remember what happened after that.

Oh, they got out alive and in one piece. Tasuki used that freaking _fan _of his to somehow light the ceiling on fire, and they skedaddled out the back door while the goons fled out the front. They then took advantage of the ensuing pandemonium to book it as the nightclub's neighbors figured out that they had a good chance of going up in smoke themselves as the building collapsed inward on itself. Cops and fire trucks wailed up as people screamed and pointed, and took pictures to post in news blogs.

Hiking ten city blocks over, they thought it safe enough to hail a taxi. It was a disreputable enough part of town that the driver didn't do more than raise an eyebrow at their collective sweaty, sooty appearance. He did still charge double the going rate for the fare though, and an extra for keeping quiet. For as much as _that _was going to work. So they had him drop themselves off another good ten blocks from the hotel so he couldn't pinpoint their location.

Yes, they ended up spending the night at Tasuki, Chichiri and Meian's hotel. Even given all those city blocks, it was closer than Tong's place, which was sure to be watched anyway. They took the backway in, and the stairs to avoid being seen. Doing all this barefoot in a dress so tight it seemed to collect every pool of sweat and hold it did nothing to improve Mai's temper.

"Dammit," she said when they finally got to the conjoining rooms that Taiitsukun had booked. She sat down so hard on the edge of one of the beds that you could hear the mattress protest. "Well," she said looking around, "at least she booked you some nice rooms."

And it was. The hotel was one of Taiitsukun's in Hong Kong, midrange, catering to middle-class pleasure travelers. It was relatively spacious, with clean fresh sheets and small touches of luxury that elevated it above cookie-cutter. Their rooms were in the corner, near the stairs for easy enter and exit, and several stories up for a nice view of the city.

The others weren't really interested in small talk though. Meian gave her a pointed look.

"I think now would be a good time for an explanation."

"No," Mai retorted.

"And why—"

"Because it really ain't any of your damn business," she snapped. "I'm sorry that you wasted all that time coming out here and looking for me, but you all need to go back right fucking now."

"Why? Don't you want us to help? Because it looks to me like you need a lot of help."

Mai rocketed to her feet. "The hell I do. The very _last_ fucking thing I need is all of you idiots here!"

Meian slapped her.

The sound was very loud in the room.

Tasuki and Chichiri looked at each other with wide eyes and as one backed toward the door.

"Really." Meian's green eyes narrowed. "Because I suppose that you are doing oh so damn well on your own. Because slapping around crime bosses and burning down nightclubs is so _very productive."_

Mai stood there holding her cheek and gaped at her like a landed fish. People thought that Mai could get mad. Mai getting mad and Meian getting mad was like comparing a firecracker with Mount Vesuvius. She felt like she was drowning in waves of fury.

"We have been looking for you for two damn days, and the first thing you say to me is go the fuck home? Who the hell do you think you are? Who the hell do you think _I _am?" Meian jabbed a finger at Mai. "God help me, I am your _friend, _no matter how bitchy you are, and damned if I am going to just _leave _on your say so. I am too fucking tired for your shit right now, but you are damn well going to tell me what is going on tomorrow."

Mai is still staring at her. "I—"

Meian sighed and closed her eyes. "For right now, get out of my sight."

Mai opened her mouth to say something, but Tasuki's formative years in a house full of females wasn't for nothing, and he noticed Meian's eyelids and nose begin to redden. While Chichiri ran to comfort his girlfriend, the redhead grabbed Mai's arms and dragged her through the connecting door into the other room before she could make things worse. Surprisingly, Mai was so shocked that she let him.

She blinked at him. He shut the door and looked at her.

"Well," he said, lifting an eyebrow, "congratulations. You have done the absolutely fucking impossible and made Meian mad."

The smart comeback died on her tongue and she plopped on the bed. "Shit," she said, and covered her face. After a moment, the fingers parted and she looked up at him. "Well? Aren't you going to join the party and bitch me out too?"

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at her. "Well, I would, but that seems kinda redundant now, doesn't it? I mean, dude, she dropped the f-bomb. I didn't even think that Meian knew what curse words _were_."

"Shit."

"You know, if you had just explained where you were going instead of running off like a headless chicken, this wouldn't have happened."

"I know."

"Or just left some sort damned note on the kitchen table. She was really worried about you."

"I know."

"I mean, we didn't even get here until the ass crack of dawn two days ago, and she _still _wanted to go look for you. Chichiri and I had to practically drag her back to the hotel and tranq her. If we hadn't found you today, she probably would have kept on searching until she—and then when we finally _do _find you, you tell her to go home like a she's just some annoying little tagalong. You have a really shitty way of treating your friends, you know that?"

"I know!" Mai shouted. "God." She fisted her hands in her hair. "But fuck, I didn't want any of you involved. I mean, why the hell should you be? Why the hell should you even _care? _This doesn't have anything to do with any of you—"

He sat down next to her. "Because that's what friends do, dumbass. We care about you. We help out even when you don't want us to."

She blinked at him. "Wait, are you including yourself? You care about me?"

_Shit. _"I care what that damn hag Taiitsukun would do to me if I _didn't _come," he said hastily. "I ain't here for pleasure. The old hag seemed to think that you were in some sort of trouble, and damn if it doesn't look like you need a shitload of help. Unless you _meant _to burn down one of the hottest nightclubs in town and get chased out the backdoor?"

"Of course not," she snapped, but it wasn't up to her usual edge. "I _had _a plan."

He looked at her incredulously. "You seriously take the fucking cake. And what was this plan, exactly? Beat up Eiken until he told you something useful? Which you then abandon to beat up someone _else _with your shoe. How the hell do you know Eiken anyway?"

"What? How the hell do _you _know him?"

"Nuh uh, you first."

Mai opened her mouth and then closed it. "Oh no, I'm not doing this right now. Its too fucking late for that, and if I am going to spill my guts on the whole sordid story, I'm only doing it once." She eyed the door. "And in the morning. Meian will probably slap me again if I walk through right now." She slumped a little.

They sat in silence for a minute, Mai wondering silently how much she had screwed things up tonight and Tasuki wondering how on earth did he get mixed up with the most annoying females.

"Goddamnit."

Tasuki looked over at Mai's harsh whisper just in time to see her squirming uncomfortably in the rear. He couldn't help it, he laughed.

She glared at him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I—" Mai turned red and looked away but still couldn't keep from shifting awkwardly in her seat. She looked back into Tasuki's amused smile and snapped, "I hate thongs, ok?"

Smile was wiped off his face as he gawked. "What?"

"Shut up. What the hell _else _was I supposed to wear with this?" She tugged a pinch of the shimmery blue fabric out so that he could see how tight it was—which was rather obvious already. "Anything else would show, goddammit! It was either the goddamn thong or going commando, and I sure as hell wasn't going _that _far into character, I'd have a fucking Sharon Stone moment every time I moved my legs—"

Tasuki had actually stopped trying to listen at "commando" and exorcise the images of all that smooth bare skin under that dress…and _no—_

"God, who _wears _these things voluntarily? It's like its flossing my ass. Maybe I _should _have just not worn anything. I mean, I already couldn't wear a bra. Obviously this had to have been designed by a fucking _man. _No woman would have made a fucking dress so tight and short and low cut that I can't even wear a bra and _still _have to worry about fucking coming out the top—"

"Gah, shut up! Stop talking, for the fuck's sake!"

"What?"

"I don't want to hear about your fucking underwear, ok?"

Still, that wasn't exactly the smartest thing to say at that point. Mai shot up so fast it was like a rocket exploding. "You _asshole, _what kind of perverted—"

This time Tasuki started to get mad. "I'm a guy, ok? What the hell _else _am I supposed to start thinking about while you are in that damn dress! For fuck's sake. Look," he added, trying to save off her tackling him and trying to bash his brains in-in that dress, and goddamn _thong_ and _no bra, _it was going to be all different kinds of dangerous, "You were obviously trying for a certain look when putting that on, and then you start going on about…about _thongs _and going _fucking commando, _and…what would _you _think if _I _started doing the same thing?"

Mai opened her mouth to retort, but a few things stopped her. One, Tasuki had jumped up to defend himself, and so the two of them were standing very close together. Two, her blood was still pumping from earlier and all the adrenaline hadn't worn off yet. Three, Tasuki hadn't been trying to dress like a slut like she was, but he was dressed for clubbing. His shirt was only buttoned up part way, revealing some _very _nice abs and pecs, and his pants were riding low on his hips. It was hot in here, and a line of sweat traced its way down over those glistening abs and under the…

A series of very…disturbing images flashed through her mind and she spun away. "Gah. Ok, ok. Sorry."

* * *

Meian stood her ground for all of ten seconds after the door shut behind Mai and Tasuki before the anger melted it off her face. Luckily Chichiri was there to catch her.

"You didn't do anything wrong no da," he said over her head as he stroked her hair.

"God," Meian said, holding on to him and resting her head comfortably against his chest. "Why is she so difficult?"

"You were the one who made friends with her first," Chichiri said wryly.

Meian closed her eyes. "And I wonder about that every day. She scared me, you know, when we first met."

"I remember you telling me about that. You met in middle school, right?"

"Yes, outside the principal's office. I was there because I was getting registered for my first day, and she was there for breaking another boy's nose." She smiled. "Even then she was taller than me, so I thought she was older too. She had her hair in this messy ponytail that falling down, with a bruise on her cheekbone and bloody knuckles and eyes like an alley cat. Since she was there, they made her give me a tour of the school. Her Japanese wasn't as good, so I asked her a question in Chinese. She gave me this look, I was terrified that she was going to knock me down and demand my lunch money. Instead she broke into the AV room so we could spend the rest of the afternoon watching movies. But she was still very angry and antisocial for the longest time. I thought she was getting better though, lately." She looked up at him, frowning a little. "Didn't you think so?"

He smoothed her hair back. "A little no da. You and Tasuki had something to do with it, I think."

She sighed and stepped back to sit down on the bed. "But she goes and takes off on her own like we don't matter. Like she's all alone. Why would she do something like that?"

Chichiri sat down next to her. He didn't know much about _Mai _himself; she was more his girlfriend's friend, or Tasuki's, but he knew a little something about living alone, with no parents, no friends, and no one there you thought you could depend on (or could depend on you) but yourself. "Well, I don't think that she was really thinking at all, no da. I think that whatever happened to bring her back here, made her just _do. _From what you have told me of the time before she met you, people to depend on didn't really figure in much of her life. Also, we don't know _why _she came back here anyway no da. Maybe she had her reasons for coming along. But," he said, as Meian showed every sign of getting up, "we are asking her that _tomorrow_. It's too late for that right now."

Meian glanced bleary eyed at the clock, and then at the door. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "You're right. But all your stuff is in the next room. And—"

He kissed her. "I'm sure we'll figure something out," he said, smiling.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Again, not mine.

Author's note: We finally get the story.

**Chapter 17**

Mai's dreams were troubled wild things, and she thrashed away from them and out of her bed.

She didn't hit the floor. Instead she landed on something only slightly softer and kind of…lumpy, but before she could figure out what it is, it flipped her over and pinned her down. Her reflexes, so much closer to the surface these days, took over, and she thrashed around, reaching for a gun or a knife that wasn't there. They rolled around on the floor for about a half a minute before her eyes focused and her brain finally engaged.

She stopped struggling and blinked upward. "Tasuki?"

Flame colored eyes dulled by fog blinked down. "Mai?"

She tugged at her wrists. He'd pinned her again, and it wasn't fair. "Dammit, let me up."

"Mai?" Tasuki asked again, and the last of the sleep cleared. He groaned and raked a hand through his hair before he rolled off her sideways, pressing his palms into his eyes. "Goddamnit. It's too fucking early for this…"

Mai sat up and looked down at him. "Too early for you? What the hell kinda reflexes do you have?" She rubbed her wrists, and was sure that she was developing bruises on other parts of her body too.

He uncovered one eye enough to glare at her. "Shut up. You were the one who _landed_ on me."

The eye was bloodshot, and now that she was looking down at him, she took in the rumpled nest of pillows and blankets on the… "What the hell were you doing on the _floor?"_

"Seeing as you took the _damn bed, _where the hell else was I supposed to sleep?"

"I what?" Mai stared at him. Come to think of it, she didn't even remember falling asleep. The last thing she remembered was coming out of the shower…

The glare intensified.

_Tasuki heard the shower turn off and looked up as Mai came out toweling off her hair. _

_Thank god. She was finally out of that seriously distracting dress and had washed all the makeup off. All right, she did look pretty damn hot and lust worthy in that thing but, all talk of underwear or lack thereof aside, he much preferred her this way. Given that it wasn't really safe for her to try heading back to Tong's tonight, and, after a quick peek into the next room, it didn't look like Chichiri was coming back to this room anytime soon, they were staying together tonight. So she was borrowing some clothes from him. Some guys might not think baggy old t-shirts and shorts were all that great, but Tasuki preferred women who dressed like themselves and not someone else. Drool over magazine photos all you like, he thought real trumped airbrushed any day of the week. _

_But then, being a redblooded male, he remembered, _Wait. She's borrowing my clothes, but I sure as hell don't own random pieces of women's underwear. So that means she still doesn't have a b—and is in a th—or maybe she's isn't wearing any—holy shit, in my _fucking clothes_-

_He realized that she was looking over at him. "What?" he said hastily._

"_Umm…" She looked awkward and he couldn't tell if it was the residual heat of the shower or embarrassment coloring her cheeks. "Could you…do you mind, umm—"_

_He lifted an eyebrow. _

_In a rush, she flipped up the brush she was carrying in her other hand and said, "Can you help me comb my hair again?"_

_Tasuki might have face faulted. "What?"_

_It definitely was a blush. "Well, I mean, you were so good at it last time—"_

"_Because I don't treat it like an enemy?" The redhead was torn between feeling pride that she thought his skills were so good that she would actually ask for his help, and annoyance that his skill was with a rather unmasculine ability._

"_Oh, forget it—"_

_Fuck, she did look really cute. Though she would smack him if he ever told her that. He sighed. "Come here." He scooted back on the bed and pointed to the spot in front of him. _

"_Thanks," she said, still embarrassed, and sat down with her back to him. _

"You must have really been exhausted," he muttered.

Mai flushed, remembering. "Oh." She must have fallen asleep while he was brushing her hair.

"Yeah," he grumbled. "_Oh._"

God, how embarrassing. She hoped she didn't _drool _on him or anything… Blue eyes rolled backward over her shoulder. It looked like he finished off the braid anyway…she looked at the bed. _And _tucked her in. Which was really kind of…sweet.

The silence spun out. The morning light was coming in, and even in the bed's shadow, it danced soft golden over everything. Tasuki's face did look a little haggard in the light, but there was a scruff of red along his chin, and his hair was rumpled just like that…

"What?"

Tasuki's question made her jump, and she flushed again, hating it. She sprung up quickly. "Nothing."

There was a knock at the door that made them both jump. "Hello no da? Are the two of you awake? We heard a thump."

Tasuki rolled over and pull the blankets over his head, muttering something unprintable.

"W-we're fine," Mai answered. Why the hell was she stammering?

The blue haired man poked his head in. "Do you want some breakfast no da?"

* * *

Breakfast was…awkward. It was good, but awkward.

Meian and Chichiri had also woken up later, slightly rumpled, but Mai couldn't detect if they had done anything more than snuggle. Dammit, those two were a freaking anachronism. Well, she knew that _Meian _was, but what were the odds that she would find a guy just like her? Really?

Tasuki, once hauled awake by the smell of the bacon and sausages and pancakes that room service had brought, was rather more rumpled. Even the way he chewed was surly, and his hair stuck out like a flaming hedgehog had taken residence on top of his head. Once he got some sustenance down him, he by degrees became more human.

Mai, on the other hand, was where the awkwardness was coming from. Once she was also revived by pancakes, her eyes couldn't stop darting around to the rest of the table. Dammit, what the hell did she have to feel guilty for? She _was _trying to keep them out of the mess of her life, right? It was for her own good that she had left without saying goodbye, right? Wait, that wasn't right…

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "I'm sorry I was a bitch last night. But you," she said with great weariness, "aren't going to do the smart thing and leave now unless I tell you want all this about, are you?" Mai was looking at Meian when she said it.

Those eyes meet hers. Jade wasn't steel, but damned if it wasn't still pretty hard on its own. "Nope."

Mai made an inarticulate sound and slumped back. "Ok. _Ok. _Fine." She took a deep breath.

* * *

"So this is how it happened. After I graduated high school, I told Taiitsukun I was going to Hong Kong. She looked at me like I was stupid. Why would you want to go _back?_ Which was a damn stupid thing to say, and I told her so. I mean, what the hell was I supposed to do there? Meian was gone (no offense, not your fault), and I sure as hell wasn't going to hack it getting some stupid college degree for a soul-sucking nine-to-five. Eventually, when the roof stopped shaking and the NyanNyans came out of hiding, the old hag said that I could do whatever the hell I wanted. To which I said, no shit, that's what I was going to do anyway.

So I went to Hong Kong. I did okay. Was kinda hard the first few weeks, but I got by and eventually convinced this barman, Tong, to let me stay in the room upstairs in exchange for working as his bartender cum bouncer. I didn't know shit about bartending, of course, but thanks to my sleaze uncle, knew my way okay around drinks. Plus, having a girl serve you in that part of town was kind of a draw and my boss didn't care if I cracked the heads of a few perverts who came to close as long as others kept buying me drinks.

That's how I met Ureshii. He was half Chinese half Japanese, like me, only he stayed in Hong Kong all his life. He was the first guy who _didn't _leer and look at my breasts instead of my face, and actually was kind of nice. In light of what happened later, that made him even more of an asshole, but, you know, he kept coming around and wore me down, and we…started going out. A couple months later, Ureshii stumbled in with a black eye and limping—he always was kind of a pansy in a fight. I demanded to know what the fuck happened and he told me that a couple of goons jumped him in the alley outside because of some gambling debts he had. I still didn't know what a shit he was at this point, so I found out who the goons' boss was and stormed over. Eiken was a pervert of the third degree but he had my boyfriend over a goddamn big barrel and wasn't about to let a money hole like that slide just because some girl threw a hissy fit. Neither Ureshii or I had the money to pay him off, so Eiken said that if I wanted to save my boyfriend's pretty face that much, I could do a few jobs for him.

I agreed. It was little stuff at first, you know, like running messages and delivering packages. Eventually, though, I was derailing shipments, stealing papers and blowing shit up. Eiken even started paying me a little for the work I was doing, and recommending me to a few of his friends. I still had my job at the bar, but the sidework was paying a hell of a lot more, and I was beginning to wonder if I ought to be doing it fulltime. Then Eiken offered me another job—go undercover as some bimbo whore to get this triad goon alone, knock him unconscious, and take some compromising pictures. The triad's rivals needed some blackmailing material. The job was fucking demeaning, but I did get to knock the asshole out, and it was paying a shitload of money, so I took it. Piece of piss. I was back in Eiken's office within two hours.

That's when the shit really hit the fan.

You see, it wasn't really a job at all. Eiken was actually _working _for the Triads who owed the area, not being the free-lance agent he had been making out to be, and all the work I had been doing was on the triad's behalf. One of the upcoming gangsters had wanted to 'meet' the piece who had been doing so well for them lately, but Eiken knew that I wouldn't go unless I thought it was for a job. Eiken figured that once I was there, the gangster wouldn't have any trouble making me do what he wanted, whatever my opinion on it. Fuckers.

Of course, things didn't turn out that way. Eiken freaked. He took the pictures from me, burned them, and tossed me out on my ear. I spent the next week dodging bullets from the triad guy, who couldn't have it known that some bitch had gotten the drop on him. This was also around the same time that I came home to find Ureshii humping some other girl on our bed. He had, it turned out, been the most opposite of faithful boyfriends as you could get, as well as draining my bank account dry in order to buy clothes, liquor, and whores for himself. It had been his idea to pimp me out to Eiken for work in the first place, and his idea to send me on that last job. While I had been running around trying not to get shot up by the triad goons, he had been living it up in our apartment. I was pissed, and the next thing I know, the hooker he had bought for the night was screaming down the hall and my piece of shit ex-boyfriend had been thrown out the window with a broken arm and a broken leg. He landed in a dumpster, so unfortunately the motherfucker didn't die, which didn't improve my mood any.

Given everything that happened, I…lost my temper.

Now that I knew who I had been working for, I started blowing shit up again, but this time with the aim to hurt rather than help my former employers. I hit dock shipments, warehouses, safehouses, favorite clubs, you name it. I was _pissed_ and had the explosives to show it. I managed to become a major thorn in their side, which turned out to be a big fucking mistake because whereas I had only pissed one triad member off before, now I was a threat to the authority of the whole damn organization. And did I mention that Triad One turned out to be the younger brother of the other two who ruled this neighborhood?

I was dodging bullets again, but with damned fewer successes. I ended up trapped like a damned rat in my apartment bathroom because the rest of it had been strafed and firebombed to hell. I was getting desperate and then Taiitsukun called. She'd been keeping tabs on me, as well as her other business interests in Hong Kong, so she knew what had been going on. She offered me a way out, in exchange for me coming back to Japan and doing what she wanted for a year. The triad wasn't likely to follow me—on the one hand, their quarry and the challenge to their authority was getting away, but on the other hand, to come after me in Japan, they would need to ask the permission of the Yakuza, further exposing their weakened position. So like I had a fucking choice. You know the rest.

But then few weeks ago, all these explosions started happening. You know, on the news? It caught my attention because they were all happening in my old neighborhood. Not that that was, you know, all the un-fucking-common, but when I kept hearing about them, I got curious. And then I got the phone call.

It was pretty damn obvious what it was. I mean, its not like I had time to give anyone my number before I left, not that I even knew what my number was going to _be _while trying not to get killed, and I sure as fuck wasn't about to call my friends back in Hong Kong and broadcast my new location. It wasn't that they couldn't keep a secret. They could, up to a point. But that point was going to be applied and pressed by lots of knives and guns and really fucking painful things by the Triad. I'd kinda hoped that the Triad would have forgotten about me and moved on to whatever other criminal shit they had, but apparently I had made an impression. I already said I lost my temper.

So when Tong called, it was obvious that it was a trap. He didn't even attempt to hide it. Oh, he didn't just come out and right fucking _say _it, not with the line bugged, but he did pull off this horrifically cheesy desperate act with shouting, tears, the whole shit_. _Tong's not the least bit emotional. If you cut off his foot, he'd probably shrug and go back to his paper. But he's fucking sobbing into the phone, the Triad's here, they have a job for you, Ming's been kidnapped, you need to come home or they are going to _kill him. _Fuji gave me this number, but I swear to God, Mai, you need to come home _right now. _

Fuji was another clue, of course. Tong meant Shan, but Shan is an immovable mountain and we both knew he would never give me away in a thousand years. Shan doesn't _have _a point for the Triad to break. Tong was trying to warn me. But whatever his act, I knew he was telling the truth about Ming, and them killing Ming if I didn't come back. And Ming doesn't deserve that. He's just a kid. Sort of a punk, but a kid that shouldn't become an obituary just because he used to hang around me. Besides, what the fuck is this? Taiitsukun bought me a few more months, for which I am grateful, but I can't run and hide the rest of my life. I fucking _refuse _to, and I won't let some kid who's done nothing wrong die for me."

* * *

Mai glared around at them all, half defiant, half scared, and dug into her eggs.


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: Fushigi Yugi, its characters, its world elements, etc is not mine, and I appropriate them for this fic without permission and for no profit whatsoever. OC's like Mai and Meian, as well as this plot are my creation, however._

_Note: Before asking me for updates, please read the note on my profile. Inspiration is not biddable. But yes, I did tweak Tenkou, Ren and Miiru a little bit so they are somewhat OOC. I was not that fond of the OVA, my tastes having changed bit beyond the melodrama that is the best and worst of FY, so forgot a lot and didn't want to watch it again to see what I forgotten._

**Chapter 18**

Meian and said, "Well? What do they want you to do?"

Mai stared at her. "Are you _still _–"

"Thank you for finally telling us what this is all about, but you haven't changed my mind," Meian said. "I knew that you were short-tempered and violence prone, and to act without fully engaging your brain in the exercise—"

"Hey!"

"—before. This hasn't changed anything. I'm not leaving here without you."

"And I'm not leaving without Meian," said Chichiri.

They all looked at Tasuki and he pointed his fork at Mai. "Spill."

She opened and closed her mouth a couple times before slumping back in her chair and staring at the ceiling. "Oh God. Well, I tried. Fine. _Fine. _They want me to steal the Shinzaho."

Chichiri frowned. "Which one? You mean—"

"All of them. Tomorrow night."

Pause. "_WHAT?"_

"That," said Mai grimly, "is what I said."

The Shinzaho of the Four Gods were four artifacts discovered on a dig a few years ago. In legend they were said to have the ability to summon the Four Gods of ancient Chinese culture: Suzaku, Seiryu, Byakko and Genbu. And they were thought to be just that—legend. So when they were actually _found _it threw the whole world in a tizzy. The academics, of course, given their cultural significance and other yadda yadda, but the rest of the world too because they were made of precious metals and encrusted with more flawless jewels than you were ever likely to see all at once ever again. The Shinzaho were sent on a world tour of the most prestigious museums and were about to finally be returned, with great pomp and ceremony, to their home resting place in China.

Tomorrow night was the welcome celebration and one of the most elite events of the year. Anyone who was anyone (or had the most money, or knew one of the anyones) would be there. Consequently, the security was through the roof to protect one of the largest gatherings of wealth in the Eastern hemisphere.

"Oh God," Tasuki said, staring at her incredulously. "What the hell. What the _hell. _Do you have a plan? Tell me you have a plan."

Mai glared at him. "If I had a fucking _plan, _would I be sitting here wearing _your_ clothes while missing bits of my fucking underwear?"

Tasuki blanched.

"TMI no da," Chichiri muttered.

"I was _hoping,_" Mai snapped, ignoring him, "that I would be able to beat Ming's location out of Eiken last night, and snatch the kid and so avoid the whole stealing the most precious and most heavily guarded items in the country. But we all know how _that _went, so no, I don't have a fucking plan."

Meian stared at her. "Oh my god," she said faintly. "You are so _stupid."_

Mai's head jerked up. "_What?"_

Meian slumped against the table, her forehead falling on her folded arms and narrowly missing her eggs. "You seriously do not think _at all, _do you?"

Mai bristled, "Hey—"

Meian's head flew back up, and she pointed a shaking finger at her friend. "You did not even _think _of your friends before haring off to beat and blow things up, did you?"

"I haven't blown anything up! Yet. Lately. And I already apologized to you!"

"I'm not talking about _us, _I'm talking about Hotohori and Nuriko, you idiot!"

Mai blinked. "Huh?"

Chichiri sat back. "That's right no da. Their flight arrives this afternoon, doesn't it?"

Tasuki looked at Mai, feeling amused. "They're representing the Shijentensho Corporation at the ceremony, remember? They've been talking about nothing else for a week, dumbass."

Mai gaped. "Wait, they—"

Meian glared at her. "I'm sure if you had just _asked _them, they could have helped out."

"Helped out with _what? _You expect me to go to them and say, oh, by the way, a bunch of gangsters kidnapped a friend of mine so I just need to steal the fucking Shinzaho from your company's sponsored high fucking profile event, sorry about the inconvenience?"

"Well, no," said Meian, "but—"

Chichiri shrugged. "Actually, Hotohori might be receptive. He can be quite chivalrous no da. But I was thinking more of Nuriko and Kourin. Their mother's family is famous jewelers, you know. They were commissioned to make replicas of the Shinzaho's for security reasons—when traveling between locations, a number of different routes were taken and replicas were scattered through the luggage for use as decoys during travel, so potential thieves wouldn't know exactly where the real ones are. Apparently the replicas are quite good, good enough to fool almost anyone."

The expression on Mai's face as realization dawned was a picture. In fact, Tasuki did take one.

"Hey!"

The redhead winced as she punched his arm but tucked his phone out of sight. Mai glared at him and then turned back to Meian. "When does their flight get in?"

* * *

Not for a several hours. Hotohori complained mightily about it, as they would arrive with _just _enough time for him to get dressed properly, but he had to travel with his father and mother, who were arriving all as a group. Nuriko, on the other hand, could leave earlier on his family's plane—and he didn't have to wait for any his other family members than his sister—his brother, while being well-known in his particular section of academia, was _terrible _in social gatherings and his parents were on a vacation trip so deputized their younger children to represent the family. Nuriko was all too happy to help.

That, honestly, was the strangest thing. Mai had _had _to tell the truth—well, the general details, because she was no good at lying and there was no _way _she was going to be able to come up with something plausible enough to explain the situation when the situation was already so complicated. So yeah, revenge for past explosions, kidnapping, blackmail, can we borrow your nowhere-_near_-as-expensive-as-the-real-thing-but-no-cheapie-either replica _shinzaho?_ Also, can you somehow finagle us into this uber-exclusive high class party so we can pretend to steal priceless artifacts for the benefit whoever the triad has watching us, because just showing up with the damn things is going to be a mite too fishy?

And they had said yes, sure, without turning a hair on their immaculate heads. Mai had even tossed out big warning flags like _triad, gangsters, guns, not nice people at all _and got nothing. It made her wonder what corporate life amongst the elite was _really _like.

So, well, wow, ok…

Anyway, Meian and Chichiri went off to take a taxi to the airport so they could meet Nuriko and Kourin there and fill them in on what else was needed. Mai, on the other hand, headed back to Tong's place so she could pick up her things. Tasuki came along because they still didn't quite trust her not to go haring off again, though they were nice enough not to say so (aloud). But a little annoying…she _said _she wasn't going to do that again, didn't she?

So Mai didn't feel guilty at all when they arrived at a time Mai _knew _Mrs. Tong would be home. The housewife opened the door to tell the insurance salesman off for the _millionth _time, she _told _him that they didn't need any of that silly insurance, they were _perfectly _healthy and buying that thing is sort of a bad omen, you know? But Mai, what are you _wearing? _Dear, you really worry me. I know that kids these days do that whole _casual _thing, but there _are _limits, are those _boxers _you are wearing out on the street? What happened to that nice dress you had yesterday—and _who _is _this?_

Pounce.

Mai snickered and made her escape while Tasuki was verbally tackled (and made subsequently _very _uncomfortable) and given the long onceover by Mrs. Tong. Normally the redhead had no trouble coming up with something to say, but talking to Mrs. Tong was like a deer confronted with a semi—you had no choice but to freeze and hope the six-wheeling truck of words would get over with early.

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, Tasuki managed to escape the Tong woman (god it was scary how much she reminded him of his mother) and booked it down the stair. He was about to settle down to wait until Mai managed to do the same when he noticed that someone else was already waiting.

The guy was a few years older than Tasuki, and certainly knew what looked good on him—he was wearing dark washed designer jeans, a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a dark vest with the right amount of uptown style with downtown casual to not look too out of place. His hair, though not naturally that color, was blond and just this side of long to look perfectly tousled. After living with Hotohori and Nuriko, Tasuki only faltered in giving the guy full fashion marks because there was an air of trying a little _too _hard while his roommates was a more believable, "Really? I just tossed this on" (which Tasuki could attest that they actually did and _still _looked that good). But women probably still sighed and lost random bits of underwear for a smile.

Tasuki hated him on sight.

But he _did _look familiar.

Apparently Tasuki did too because the stranger straightened and asked him something. Tasuki shrugged. "Sorry. Don't speak Chinese."

The stranger blinked and then, to Tasuki's surprise, asked in perfect Japanese, "Where's Mai?"

"Wha—"

"_Ureshii, you piece of shit."_

Tasuki blinked and turned around. Mai had made her escape, finally, and was standing on the stairs behind him with an expression on her face like she had found a turd under her nose. Which, given her choice of greeting, was exactly it.

The guy—Ureshii, apparently—lost a little of his polish but still managed a winning smile in Mai's direction. "Mai. You are looking well. It's been—"

"It's been almost a year, you asshole, and it's no thanks to you that I am, in fact, well. You didn't do shit then, and you certainly aren't doing shit right now because you're still crawling like a dog after Eiken and the other fuckers. What, mooching off of whatever pretty skirt you can find not paying well enough?" Her eyes slid to Tasuki. "Meet my cheating shit of an ex, Ureshii," she sneered. "Pretty as a picture and with just as much brains. Clearly his dick tries to compensate but looks in all the wrong ends."

_Thought so. _

Ureshii protested. "That's not what it was like—"

"Like fuck." What looked like a toy to a giant but a really big ass gun to a human came out of that duffel to point squarely at the blond, who backed up a step and swallowed. "Say what you came here to say, Ureshii, before I finish the job I started last year and actually kill you this time."

Tasuki winced and edged away a little.

Ureshii swallowed again, and with very slow, deliberate movements that showed he knew Mai very well, took out a cell phone. "Since your old phone was…lost, they sent me. They want to talk to you—the number's already loaded."

Mai eyed him suspiciously but lowered the gun and took the phone. Hitting the call button, she turned away to make the call.

Tasuki gave Ureshii an up and down look. "So you're him, huh? Damn, I don't envy you. I mean, getting _her _mad? _Honestly, _do you have a death wish?"

"And _who _are _you?_" the other man snapped.

"Her neighbor."

"Right…" Ureshii looked doubtful.

Tasuki was debating where to plow his fist into the other man's face, what the _hell _did she see in this guy anyway?, when a clatter behind him made him turn. Mai was still standing behind him but looking down at the phone at her feet like she had never seen it before. Her hand was still up by her ear but her fingers looked frozen as a mannequin's. But a small scuff of a shoe, might have been his, might have been Ureshii's, caused her to look up and Tasuki's blood to run cold.

Where the heat of her anger rolled over her before, now the air crackled with cold and ice. She was shaking all over, but her aim on the gun was surprisingly calm.

"Ureshii," she said, voice low, "You took Ming to them, didn't you?"

Ureshii blanched and turned to run, but in two quick strides Mai had him by the throat and slammed up against a wall.

"If you are going to try and lie, don't even bother," Mai hissed.

Ureshii went even whiter, if that was possible. Tasuki took a few steps forward—not that he was feeling sorry for the guy, but they so did _not _need to hide a murder one on top of everything else—when Mai suddenly slumped and her grip sagged.

"You…shit. _That's _the pretty skirt you're hooked up with now?" She was staring at his ear, her expression an equal mix of disgust and horror.

Ureshii's face twisted and his hand flew up his earlobe, which, now that Tasuki was paying attention to it, had a scabbed over…bite mark on it? What the hell?

"It's not…"

"I've seen what that bitch Miiru does," Mai snapped. "Don't tell me it's not what I think."

"We…you know that we grew up together," Ureshii said desperately. "She's not always been like that. I thought…maybe I could talk to her…"

His weak tone petered out as he looked at her face.

"You are so full of shit," she said wearily. "_That," _she pointed at his earlobe, "is her idea of a love mark. They say that she can use your blood to plant suggestions, but if you say that's why you did it, I swear to god…" She paused and took a deep breath. _"_It's not your fault."

Ureshii gaped at her. Whatever he had been expecting, it was not that.

"It's not. You are a completely disgusting human being with the moral fortitude of a dead fish, so it's not really a fucking surprise that you do whatever the damn Triad tells you to do, is it? Think about it. Who else would Ming follow? But," her eyes snapped to his, "I don't want to hear a fucking apology. Sure, you feel really shitty about it, but that sure as fuck didn't stop from doing it, did it? And it won't stop you from doing it again if they ask you. Now get the fuck out of my sight. If I ever see you again, I won't stop at throwing you out the window."

Wisely, Ureshii shut his mouth and skedaddled. Mai watched him go, her fists clenching and unclenching, before closed her eyes and sitting down hard. After a moment, she wrapped her arms around her head, pressed her face into her knees and began to rock back and forth like a teetor totter.

Tasuki knelt down in front of her. "Hey."

She was muttering something, but he couldn't hear what. Gently taking the gun from her hand and flicking the safety on, he tucked it into the back of his pants and pried her arms away from her face. "There you are," he said lightly, but felt his heart clench as he saw her expression.

"God, this is all my fault," she whispered.

He considered her for a second. "Well, yeah."

She blinked. "What?"

"It _is _your fault," he said reasonably. "I mean, that's what you said, right? None of this would have happened if you hadn't gone so freaking insane and blew up all the Triad's shit."

She stared at him. "Fuck," she muttered and yanked her hands from his and buried her face again. "They were _hurting _him," she whispered. "They won't kill him, they said, not yet, because I still have a fucking _job _to do, butjust in case I didn't have enough fucking incentive they were going to hurt him and make me _listen_. God damn it, he'll be twelve this year. He's only a _kid, _and because of me—"

"Hey." He tugged her hands open again and put his on both sides of her face to make her look at him. "That doesn't matter, ok? You fucked up, fine, but then you do something and you _fix _it. You don't sit and moan about it. You own up and you get him back and you make them pay. Ok?"

Mai looked at him with those wide blue eyes and then smiled. It was small, and a little shaky, but it was there. "Helluva speech."

He shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed. "I have my moments," he said lightly.

The smile steadied. "Yeah, you do." She took a deep breath and stood up.

"We going back now?" Hopefully for lunch. Tasuki's stomach was growling—Mrs. Tong had been cooking lunch and he had had to smell it the whole time she was drowning him in Chinese.

Mai raised an eyebrow like she was reading his mind. "Why didn't you ask for something to eat? Tong-_tai-tai _would have given you enough food that your stomach would explode."

He looked at her. "I was afraid if I sat down, I would _never be able to leave._ At least if I stayed in the doorway I could pretend I heard the fucking phone was ringing so she would have to go check."

Mai snorted. "Oh shit. Tell me you didn't."

"Tell me _you've _never had to do that."

Mai quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, we have one more stop to make before we head back."

"Yeah? Where?"

* * *

There were hundreds of them. Thousands.

"You seriously don't remember the number?"

"Shut up, I'm counting! It was fifteen from the end…but from the left or the right? Fuck."

Tasuki rolled his eyes. They were at a storage unit complex a few minutes from Tong's place. Mai said that they had to stop by to pick up a few things that she'd left behind that would help them tonight. The only problem was that she couldn't remember the number, but she did remember it spatially. Supposedly.

"You _do _have the key, right?" Tasuki asked, walking behind her.

"Of course," she hissed. "Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…here! This is it."

Tasuki forbear from asking if it was from the left or the right and felt like a better person for it.

Digging the key out of her bag, she knelt down and unlocked it. Rolling the door up, she peered inside. "Ok, lemme see…they are—"

Squinting a little, Tasuki's eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the container. It was an eclectic mix, to say the least. He poked an inflatable duck. "What the hell is _this _for?"

Mai spun around. "What? Oh." She stabbed it with a knife.

"Gah! What the hell?"

"Hmm?" She looked at him quizzically, still holding the combat knife in the air as the duck deflated in a sad whistling sound. "Oh, sorry. It was Ureshii's."

"What? What the hell did he use it for?"

Her face darkened. "Don't ask." She shook her head a little. "Anyway, the stuff we need is in the back."

Edging carefully away from the murdered avian, Tasuki followed her to the rear of the unit where a peg board had been set up. But instead of hammers, screw drivers and things from the hardware store…there were things from the _other _hardware store. Guns, knives, bullets, knuckle dusters and…

"Nunchucks?" Tasuki gave them a whirl. "They are a little small, aren't they?"

"Hey!" Mai's eyes brightened, and took it from him. "I almost forgot about them! I got these for my seventh birthday."

Tasuki's eyebrow rose. "What, really?"

"Yeah. Dad was working as a part-time instructor at a local martial arts school then, and they let him take an old one."

"And that?" he asked, nodding at a blue urn sitting off to the side.

"Dad."

"What?"

"Well, it used to be." She hung up the small nunchucks and picked up the urn. It wasn't, as she brought it closer, actually made out of marble, but the cheap patterned fake of printed plastic. She wiped the dust off reverently. "His ashes."

"Oh," said Tasuki, awkwardly. Now he felt like a dick.

"Oh, they aren't actually in here," she said, seeing his expression. "I scattered them over my mother's grave. He would've wanted to be with her." She held the urn for a moment longer, and then put it carefully aside. She waved a hand at the peg board. "Ok, take your pick."

Tasuki sat back on his heels and just stared for a moment. "Has anyone ever told you," he said slowly, "that you have a serious problem? Aren't women supposed to hoard _shoes_ and shit?"

"And when," she said just as slowly, "did I ever give you any indi-fucking-cation that I would hoard fucking _shoes_? What kind of stupid shit is that? You can't put bullets in a _shoe."_

Tasuki raised his hands. "Hey, wasn't judging. Besides, didn't I tell you how much I like women with an unhealthy fondness for mass weaponry?"

She lifted an eyebrow. "No. And I thought you _didn't _like women."

He reached out for a combat knife and started flipping it to test the balance. After the third flip, he grinned at her. "Yeah, well, for you I could make an exception."

He thought she might have blushed but it was dark in the back. He did clearly see Mai roll her eyes as she tossed him a slim-line holster. "Come on," she said, "load up."


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Author's Note: Action is hard for me to write, so apologies for the slow progress.

**Chapter 19**

It was raining. OF COURSE it was raining. Tasuki would have glared at the sky if he'd had any energy. But he didn't. He barely had enough to sit up, even with the help of the rusted metal drum behind him. Mai wasn't any better. He looked over at her, blue lipped and pale with the cold, that beautiful dress hacked off at the knees so the layers puffed out around her, mascara smeared around her eyes, and hair straggling like inky swirls down her face. She looked like a drowned fairy.

She looked over at him, and her lips shook into a barely-smile. "Well," she said, and blinked water from her eyes. "We're fucked."

_Dammit, _Tasuki thought. _We were so close…_

* * *

It started out perfect.

While Tasuki and Mai went to Tong's, Chichiri and Meian took a taxi to the airport to meet Nuriko. Once they cleared security, Chichiri and Meian filled in their friends on the rest of the plan that they'd hatched over breakfast.

It wasn't enough to just appear with the fakes in tow—the Creepy Triad no doubt had Mai under surveillance to make sure she wouldn't run, not even while they held her friend hostage. After all, Mai had said in disgust, that wouldn't have been enough to hold _them, _if their places were it would be too suspicious to just arrive with jewels in hand. They would have to stage a heist to make it look like Mai had actually managed to steal the real thing.

Nuriko was giddy over the idea—Meian strongly suspected him of watching too many Ocean's Numbers movies recently, as the purple-haired one was a touch too disappointed to be reminded that they weren't _actually _going to steal anything, just make it look like they did. But the hotel for the reception had been a favorite of the Shijentensho Corporation for years, so Nuriko and Hotohori had the layout memorized…including where the main fuse box was. The idea was to kill the lights little more than halfway through the reception, when the guards' attention was the lowest, allowing Chichiri to throw a quick spell over the Shinzahos to make it _appear _as if they had vanished from the cases long enough for Mai to get to the meeting place and exchange the fakes for her friend. Of course the real ones wouldn't have moved an inch—the spell would fade after a while, making the real ones visible again.

But to do that, they had to get into the reception. Chichiri couldn't cast the spell at a distance, and of course Mai had to be present to add verisimilitude to the "theft." The rest would run interference and make sure that no one tampered with the spell for long enough for Mai to get Ming back and safely away.

That was the sticky part—even with their family connections, Hotohori and Nuriko couldn't get _four _extra tickets at such short notice. However, their invitations did allow a plus one, so it was decided that Mai and Meian would go as Hotohori's and Nuriko's dates. Chichiri and Tasuki, on the other hand, could join the staff temporarily hired by the hotel for the reception.

All this was settled before Mai and Tasuki returned, and it was worth it to see Mai's face when she was told that they would have to go shopping for evening gowns (Chichiri and Tasuki would have their uniforms provided by the hotel). Mai made a face but managed (barely) not to say anything thanks to a look from Meian. Tasuki and Chichiri went to the hotel to get a first hand feel for the floor plan while Nuriko took Mai and Meian out shopping.

After what Mai said was "an eternity of torture" that consisted of dress shopping, fittings, makeup, hair styling, manicures and _shoes, _the two women were deemed decent enough to be let out in public by Nuriko. At the main event, Meian was grateful. Looking at all the jewels and silk in evidence, there was no way that the last minute plus ones would have even been let in the front door with any less effort. Though, Meian had to admit, she didn't know what made her more nervous—the fact that she was about to participate in a near-crime or that she was wearing a dress that probably cost more than her entire college education.

And shoes…Meian had to admit she was sticking out a little bit by hugging close to the walls, which was the exact opposite point of getting dressed like this, but she lived in fear of tripping over the four inch heels strapped to her feet. Which certainly would have caused even _more _attention. But she couldn't stand in one spot _all _night…well, maybe if she made her way slowly to the refreshments…at least there she could pretend to get something to nibble while leaning on the table…

Cautiously she edged away from the wall and sort of shuffled her way glacially toward the food. At first she was glad that her long skirt hid this odd foot motion but the thing about satin and silk is that it's slippery. It wasn't long before her hem snuck under her front toe and she started to stumble…

Luckily a waiter caught her elbow and steadied her. Mortified she started to stammer an apology when she recognized the waiter.

It was Chichiri. And well, to use Mai's vernacular, _damn._

They were at one of the best hotels in the city, and it showed. The uniform the hotel was using was smart, dapper invention of sharp black trousers, waistcoat and tie over a crisp white shirt. The waistcoat nipped inward, showing off Chichiri's trim waist, while the black pants highlighted long legs. The light blue of his hair paired nicely with the white collar. The bright lights of the hotel bounced off his cheekbones and glittered in his brown eyes.

After a while, Meian realized that gaping at the wait staff wasn't something that the rich, high-profile lady she was supposed to be did. Finding her balance, she stepped away. "Thank you," she said aloud, trying to put in the frost her character would feel—well-bred enough to be polite, but still annoyed that she would have been touched so presumptuously (Nuriko had regaled her often enough that afternoon with stories of the typical guests at these sort of functions).

Chichiri didn't say anything and then she realized that he was staring at her as well. Self-consciously, she smoothed down her skirt. Nuriko had chosen a peach-colored gown for her, some lovely floor-length, vaguely Grecian concoction that gathered one side high at the beaded waist to fall in a ripple to the floor. She hadn't felt worthy of it when she put it on, but from her boyfriend's expression maybe she looked better than she'd thought.

"You look lovely," he breathed, not bothering to keep his voice down.

A curl fell over her temple from the jeweled pins holding her hair up. Chichiri automatically reached out to touch it—

"God, I need a drink."

Mai suddenly swooped in from the side, knocking Chichiri's hand down and startling them both. "What, just those shrimp things?" she complained loudly. "This party is so lame, I don't know why my father insists I go to these things. Right?" She linked arms with Meian.

"What?"

"If you guys stared at each other any longer, we might as well put _you _on display," her friend hissed in a more normal voice. Plucking a shrimp cocktail from the serving platter, she gave Chichiri a discreet push. "Tasuki's looking for you. Go."

After watching him go, Mai quirked an eyebrow at her friend. "He was looking at you like he hadn't a drink in years and you were a glass of water. And _you _were looking at him in the same way."

Meian blushed and quickly changed the subject. "_You _look nice."

And she did. Instead of peach, Mai was in dark blue again, in a strapless ball gown that clung tight to her torso before blossoming into a full skirt. It was dusted with silver sparkles, making it look like she was wrapped in a night sky.

Mai rolled her eyes. "I've worn more dresses in the last 36 hours than I have in the last _year. And _these shoes. Like what the fuck? Who the hell pays for these fucking torture devices?"

"Shh!" Meian said quickly. The high society ladies that they were supposed to be weren't supposed to use such language.

Mai made a face and bit her tongue. Then she lifted an eyebrow and nudged her friend. "So…your boy looks pretty good, eh?"

Meian blushed again. "And what about Tasuki? What did you think of him?"

Mai shrugged and dipped her shrimp into the red sauce held in the mini-martini glass. "He cleans up well, I suppose," she replied simply. This time she changed the subject and steered her friend the rest of the way to the food table. For someone complained so much about formal wear, she seemed to have a better handle on maneuvering in her outfit than Meian did.

The rest of the night went off without a hitch. The lights were killed precisely on schedule, Chichiri already in place to throw the invisibility spell over the real jewels. Mai booked it to the back (well, as fast as one _can _book it in staggeringly high stilettos) and picked up the fakes from Nuriko, who had just taken them from the family safe, and ran through the kitchens to the backdoor. Tasuki met her there, as he was the one who had killed the lights. Prior to meeting her, he had retrieved their duffel of hardware from its hiding place and handed it to her after she sat down in the car Hotohori was letting them borrow.

But then things went a little off schedule as Tasuki sat down next to her.

"What the hell? Get out!"

"No." He shut the door and leaned forward to the driver. "Go—what was the address again?"

"Get out!" Mai said again, and pushed at him.

"No," Tasuki said again. He tossed her jacket at her. "Put that on, you look cold."

"You—"

"Look, you know it's a trap. You said so, so the hell I'm going to just let you walk into it alone. At the very least I can create a diversion to give you a fucking chance, ok? Now we don't got a lot of time. Are you going to waste it arguing with me, or are you going to go get your friend back?"

Mai glared at him but turned to the driver and spit out the address. The driver had worked for the Shijentensho Corporation for a long time, and professionally ignored the little spat.

Mai crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat with a thump. Tasuki opened the duffel and pulled out a Glock. After checking the motion on it, he flicked the safety on before tucking it into the back of his pants and filling the inner pockets of his jacket with extra clips.

"You look nice, by the way," he said finally, not looking at her.

The blue eyes slid his way.

"A little, you know, foofy but…not bad."

"Asshole," she said, but it was with a smile and her arms uncrossed. She reached for the bag. "Come on, leave me some."

* * *

The driver drove them to the address by the docks, but not all the way there. Instead he dropped them off behind a building far enough away that Mai's feet were going to hate her but at least she still would be breathing while they did—Tenkou, Miiru and Ren were very _specific _about what would happen if they found out that she hadn't come alone.

It was misting a little bit in the night, but not too bad. With his black jacket and pants, Tasuki blended in well enough with the night, and a knit beanie covered up his hair. After the driver left, he texted Chichiri before putting the phone in his pocket. Out of that same pocket, he took out two little fleshy lumps the size of a pinkie nail.

"Here," he said, handing her one.

"What's this?"

"Latest tech from Shijentensho Corp." He slipped his little lump into his ear. "Wireless ear piece." When she didn't move, he took her ear bud from her hand and fitted it into her ear. He tapped on it lightly, sending audible feedback, and then pulled a black lock over her ear to cover—the bud didn't actually show, but it didn't hurt to be too careful. "We figured that they would check for a wire, but not likely they'd be looking for these—this latest model isn't even out on the market yet, according to Nuriko. But now I'll be able to hear what's going on and we can communicate."

He started to lower his hand, but Mai caught it in hers, eyes searching his. "Thank you," she said seriously. "I mean it."

He smiled at her slowly. "Sure." He flicked her nose. "But this ain't free, you know. I expect you to return the favor someday."

Mai watched the direction he vanished into for a long time before shaking her herself and stepped forward.

* * *

The warehouse wasn't abandoned. With land at a premium in Hong Kong, no square foot was wasted. The Triad used this place for one of their various smuggling operations, but Mai couldn't remember which one—drugs, people or weapons. Rusty metal shelves lined the walls, dotted with boxes of various illegal things. Moonlight came in to lay wide silver ribbons on the floor from windows set high on the walls. It was a big place, and her heels clicked and echoed against the cement floor.

"Well, hello," said Miiru. She smiled, her waving, long, lavender hair like a moon angel in the dark—as usual, she looked far sweeter than she actually was. "You look nice. Did you just dress up for this?"

Mai glared at her. "Sure, I always wear evening gowns to kidnappings. Shut up and show me Ming, you bitch."

_Temper, temper, _said Tasuki in her ear. She swallowed another expletive.

Miiru smiled at her infuriatingly. "Well, as nice as you look, you don't mind if we do a quick search of you, no? Can't be too careful." She didn't wait for an answer and next to her, Tenkou waved a languid hand. One of the black-suited goons they'd brought and came forward. Mai looked at him in disgust, but didn't protest as he divested her of her coat and lightly patted her down. Just before Mai was about shove her spiked heel into his groin, he nodded and stepped away.

Tenkou waved his other hand, and Ming was dragged out into the light. Mai's fist clenched. He was dirty, probably still in the clothes that they had taken him in, gagged and hands tied. The whole side of his face was bruised. Mai took a step forward but Tenkou held out a hand.

"Ah," he said in his deep voice. Tenkou, on the other hand, looked like the creepy bastard he was, with long silver hair, gold eyes, and a permanent sneer. "The Shinzaho, if you please."

Mai held out the velvet bag and let the jewels flow into her hand so the gems caught the light.

* * *

As Mai ran for the back door, Meian helped tuck away what magical supplies Chichiri had needed into her purse and then tried to step away from the display cases quickly before the lights came back on. Biting back a curse worth of Mai when she stumbled in those stupid shoes _again, _Meian fought to regain her balance before a pair of strong arms caught her and helped her steady. The lights came back on just as she was upright again, and she turned around to thank Chichiri—

"Oh."

"Oh?" The man wouldn't caught her was _not _Chichiri, though they were of the same height. He looked a few years younger than she was, but carried himself with great confidence…probably because he was built like a fashion plate, with pale purple hair and amethyst eyes. He had a nice smile. "Don't you mean thank you?"

"S-sorry, I mean, th-thank you," Meian stuttered, and backed away, only to catch one heel in some invisible flaw on the marble floor. Damn these shoes!

He caught her elbow and his eyebrows crooked in concern. "Are you all right? The lights going off so suddenly like that could disorient anyone with a delicate constitution—"

"I-I'm fine." Meian bit her lip, and tried to see if any of her friends were nearby. There was something…_off _about this guy, as good looking at he was.

He didn't let go of her elbow, and his eyes roamed over her face. "I must say, I don't believe I've ever seen you before. What's your name?"

"Well, I _have _seen you before, Shigyou Renhou, and you do look quite nice in that tux. Did Miiru pick it out for you?"

Nuriko suddenly appeared next to Meian, followed closely by Chichiri. He was all smiles, but they had bite. Ren stepped away and gave an edged smile back.

"Ah, Nuriko. I was just helping steady the poor lady against the shock of the lights going out so suddenly like that."

"Really." The violet-haired one raised an eyebrow.

"Quite. But instead of raising eyebrows at me, don't you have more pressing issues on your plate?"

"Like what?"

"Like it appears that the Shijentensho Corporation's gala is missing their prime attraction."

Nuriko's acting was flawless. "What—" he suddenly let out a little cry of dismay as his head whipped around to stare at the empty glass cases. Whipping out a cell phone, he began punching numbers. Meanwhile, his cry was perfectly pitched to catch the attention of the milling people around, who let out little cries of their own as they noticed that the jewels were missing. Renhou seemed to melt into the crowd.

Chichiri came to Meian's side. "Are you all right, no da?"

She smiled up at him. Give her brown eyes over purple any day. "I'm fine. Did Mai and Tasuki get out ok?"

"Tasuki just sent me a text."

"Good." She bit her lip. "I hope she makes the tradeoff all right…"

"Ha!" Nuriko closed the mobile with a snap. "Police are on their way here." He looked around in amusement, as the ballroom seethed with masses of people who were caught between wanting to leave and wanting to stick around to see the rest of the scandal. Lower, he added, "But between the traffic outside and the mess in here, it's going to take them forever to get in. By then, Chichiri's spell should have worn off."

"Nuriko, who was that man?" Meian asked.

"Who, Ren?"

"Ren who?" Hotohori suddenly appeared. "Nuriko, did you make the call?"

"Yup, just did. Shigyou Renhou tried to get friendly with Meian here."

"Who is he?" asked Chichiri.

Nuriko waved a hand. "That's it, nobody knows. Rumor goes that he and his sister Miiru are the illegitimate kids of one of the Triad leaders, though no one knows who. Their cousin Tenkou is the same."

"It's probably more than just a rumor," said Hotohori. "No one knows where their money comes from and their names have been linked with a few places that are suspected crime fronts. The word is that they are ambitious, but their half-Japanese heritage has been holding them back in the Triad. Not to mention that they say that they lost thousands and maybe millions in illegal shipments during all those bombings on the docks last summer. But they still get invited to all the parties."

"Renhou and Miiru in particularly known for trolling the night clubs. Miiru is popular with the guys, because its said that one night with her can drain the blood from your body," Nuriko rolled his eyes, "and Ren is equally popular with the girls. Personally, there's something off about them. Ren has a bad temper for one. Besides, Ren and Miiru are a little _too _close of siblings, if you know what I mean."

Meian stared at them. "Is _that _why you were so willing to help us with this?" she whispered furiously. "Because you already suspected—"

Nuriko blinked at her. "What do you mean? Wait…you mean—"

"Ren, Miiru and Tenkou are Mai's Creepy Triad?" Hotohori finished. "Hmm. Well. That's interesting."

Chichiri and Meian stared at their complete lack of emotion at this revelation. "Business is literally cutthroat for you, isn't it no da?" Chichiri said weakly.

Nuriko shrugged but didn't elaborate. "Anyway, why don't the two of you go on back to the hotel? Hotohori and I have to be here for when the cops come, but you don't. Actually, it would be a good idea for you both not to be seen around here."

* * *

"Beautiful," Miiru breathed. She smiled at Mai. "All right. Walk ten paces forward and place the bag on the floor. Walk back fifteen paces and we will release Ming to you."

Mai didn't say anything but started walking. Once she had finished walking five paces back from where she'd started, they pushed Ming forward. The boy stumbled, but didn't fall and didn't cry out.

_Hey, _said Tasuki in her ear. _Didn't you say there were three of them? I see a girl and a guy, but the rest are just goons. Where is the third?_

Mai felt like the world slowed, and her heart hammered in her brain.

"Hey," she called out fighting to keep her voice level as Ming closed the distance to five steps from her, four. "Where's your brother? Doesn't seem like him to miss this kind of party."

Three steps, two. Miiru flipped her hair over a shoulder. "Oh, him. He's at another party."

_Another party? _Tasuki echoed. _Fuck, don't tell me—_

One step, zero. Mai grabbed Ming and put him behind her. "Really. Strange. I always thought you went to those together, Miiru. Well, don't let me hold you up, the night is still young—"

"You're not." This time it was Tenkou who answered. Mai eyed all the automatics now pointing at her.

"Hey, I did hold up my end of the bargain."

"Yes, but you made that deal with Miiru, not me." He smiled, teeth white in the gloom.

Ming clutched at her skirt, shaking, "Mai—"

"Get ready to run," she hissed. "Tasuki, call Meian and Chichiri. Get them out _now._"

_Shit, you are not—_

"You are not getting away from us this time," Tenkou said.

"Yeah?" Mai bent her knees. "Don't mean I can't make a hell of a try." In a swift movement, she yanked out a black cylinder from the front of her dress and threw it. Without watching to see it land, she pulled Ming along behind her.

* * *

Tasuki swore as the little communicator in his ear exploded with sound and he nearly fell off his perch on the scaffolding outside the warehouse. This was good, actually—it meant that he wasn't looking inside when the flash bang went off, as he was too preoccupied with regaining his balance. The gangsters inside weren't so lucky, and when the redhead edged up to see through the window again, he saw them staggering around while Mai and the boy ran for the door. Unfortunately they didn't make it—the piece with the long lavender hair (Miiru, Tasuki guessed, given the way she'd taken the lead on talking) screamed out something in Cantonese that set her goons to firing indiscriminately. Though their aim was poor due to lack of eyesight, an alarming array of bullets went spraying around and it only takes one—

"Mai!" Tasuki yelled, as he struggled downward. "Mai! Answer me dammit!"

_Fuck, _came the foul-mouthed but welcome voice, _that didn't turn out the way I hoped. _She jabbered something in Cantonese, but Tasuki caught "Ming" and assumed that she was asking if the kid was all right.

"Shit," Tasuki said in relief. "Where are you?"

_We made it to behind some crates not far from the door, but with those idiots shooting off like that, we can't—_

"Stay there, I'll—"

_You will not! Dammit, call Chichiri and Meian! Ren's not here, that slimy bastard, he's at the party!_

"What? Ren who?"

_The third member of the Creepy-ass Triad. Only Miiru and Tenkou are here, Ren's missing, and Miiru said—_

"Shit." Tasuki landed on the ground and fumbled for his phone.

_Well? Are they okay—_something in Cantonese—_Tasuki!_

"I just sent the damn text, they haven't answered yet!"

_God—_something else in Cantonese, this time with a boy's voice answering back, arguing and Mai overriding—_Tasuki, where are you?_

"Outside, I'm coming to you—"

_Stay there, I'm sending Ming out. _

"All right, and what about you?"

_When Ming comes out, you take him and get him out of here, and then head back to the party to find Chichiri and Meian. If Ren has them—_

"Get Ming, make sure Chichiri and Meian are safe, got it. _What about you?"_

_Tasuki, I'm going to create a distraction so Ming can get to you. You might want to turn off the earpiece, it's going to get loud. _


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Nothing of FY is mine—I just like to appropriate the characters for my own amusement.

**Chapter 20**

As soon as they reached the back stairs, Chichiri turned Meian around and kissed her long, sweet and slowly. She gasped a little when he let her go.

"What was that for?" she asked, a little breathlessly.

He smiled at her and rubbed his thumbs down the side of her throat. "For looking so beautiful."

It should have sounded corny, and probably would have if it had been anyone else saying it, but Meian felt her knees go weak. "Well," she said, "you don't look too bad yourself."

Faintly, Meian thought she felt her phone buzz in her purse, but Chichiri was kissing her again and she wasn't paying much attention.

"Well, well, well."

Chichiri and Meian broke apart to see Ren standing there, clapping slowly. "Love," he said, smiling at them both, "is a wonderful thing, isn't it?"

Chichiri slowly edged in front of Meian.

"Though, I would have thought you would have better taste than the _waitstaff._ But…hmmm." Ren cocked his head to the side. "This one is a bit higher caliber than most of the servants these days. Where did they find you? Or _did _they?" He leaned forward and they backed up. "They _didn't, _did they_? You _are the ones who did that neat little trick in there, aren't you?"

* * *

Mai yanked Ming behind a stack of crates as soon as the shooting started—all it took was one bullet and this whole thing would have been useless. She winced as Tasuki shouted in her ear.

"Fuck, that didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. Ming, are you ok?"

The boy looked at her. "Did you really just pull that from your _boobs?_"

She glared at him. "They frisked me, where else was I to put it?" She began yanking at her hem. Damn poofy layers…they fooled the hands when they searched her, but _god, _what a pain…

"Mai, what's going on?" Ming's voice was high and thin with stress, and she couldn't blame the poor kid. He idolized all those movie gangsters and criminals with a heart of gold, but movies weren't real life. "I thought they were going to let us go when you—"

"Let you go, maybe." Mai pulled the little knife from her ankle sheath and used it to cut his hands free.

Ming shook even more. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have trusted Ureshii, I mean, he starting hanging around Miiru something hard after you left but he _said—_"

Mai tousled his hair, free of the usual gels and spray for once. "Ureshii's persuasive when he needs to be, don't sweat it. We're behind some crates," she said, switching to Japanese, "but with those idiots shooting off like that—"

Ming frowned. "Who are you talking to?"

She shushed him and asked Tasuki about Chichiri and Meian, explaining about Ren and fighting the sinking feeling in her stomach. The bullets behind them ceased as the gangsters regained most of their sight and started sweeping the warehouse for them. They couldn't stay here long… Mai closed her eyes, muttered something foul in Cantonese, and then hissed, "Tasuki!"

_I just sent them the damn text, they haven't answered yet!_

"God." She looked at Ming. "Ming, are you all right? Can you run?"

He nodded, eyes big. "Yeah, but why?"

She pointed her chin toward the door. "We can't stay here, but I've got someone outside who's going to help you get to safety."

"Is that who you've been talking to?"

"Yeah. All you have to do is get to the door."

"But they—" Ming's eyes flicked over.

"I'll take care of them."

"No!" He grabbed her arm. "You're coming with me, don't be stupid—"

"Shut it!" she snapped, and then took a deep breath. "I'll be right behind you once I know you're safe, ok?" she lied. "I'm going to create a diversion so you can get to the door. When I tell you, you run and don't stop for fucking anything, all right? Tasuki, where are you?"

_Outside, I'm coming to you—_

She told him to stay put and continued with Ming. "Tasuki will take care of you, all right? He's got red hair and is kind of a pain, but he'll take care of you." Ignoring Ming's protests, she continued giving instructions to Tasuki.

Ming grabbed her arm again. "Mai, you can't—"

Mai snatched the back of his head and made him look at her. "I am getting you out. _Don't fucking argue with me. _Tasuki, I'm going to create a distraction so Ming can get you." She hiked up the other side of her skirt and kicked off her shoes. "You might want to turn off the earpiece, it's going to get loud."

* * *

Tasuki wasn't quite sure _what _Mai did, but suddenly the shooting started up at about ten times the level it was at before, and all sorts of pyrotechnics was going on inside. It was a damn good thing that the warehouse was so big—Tasuki didn't know how else it would have remained standing. He ran for the door and saw a small figure come darting out.

"You Ming?" he yelled at the kid.

The kid stared at him, bug eyed, like a deer about to run, and Tasuki cursed as he remembered that the kid probably didn't understand Japanese. But the boy's eyes flicked up to Tasuki's hairline and asked a badly accented, "Tasuki?"

Tasuki nodded and grabbed the grimy hand, pulling the kid away from the door and the fireworks. Once they were safe distance away, he looked down and asked, "Mai?"

Ming responded with a torrent of incomprehensibility, and Tasuki had to finally tell him to shut up, but he got the sinking gist of it. "Shit. _Shit._"

Ming grabbed his arm and tugged, demanding something.

"I know, goddamnit! But—" Another tug, harder, almost enough to pull his arm out of his socket. "Stop that!" Yanking his phone out of his pocket, he dialed Chichiri's number, then Meian's number, then Nuriko's, then Hotohori's—"What the fuck is the matter with everyone? Why don't they pick up the damn phone?"

Finally he punched in Taiitsukun's number.

"What? Who is this?"

Tasuki never thought that he would be so glad to hear that scratchy hag voice. "Shit, Taiitsukun."

"Yes, who did you think it would be? Who is this?"

"Tasuki. God we need your help—"

The annoyance faded in an instant. "Tell me. Quickly."

"We found Mai but she is currently trying to blow up a warehouse and take the Triad shits inside with her, but another one is gunning after Chichiri and Meian but I can't reach them so I don't know what the fuck is going on but I have this freaking kid Ming with me, a fucking friend of Mai's that I have to get out of here and I—"

Taiitsukun received this series of non-sensicality quite calmly. "Call this number—" she rattled off a series of digits that Tasuki, for lack of pen and paper, had to scratch with a knife in the dirt, "and someone will come pick up the boy and take him to one of my safehouses. They can be there in two minutes. I'll send someone else for Chichiri and Meian—where did you last see them?"

"The Mandarin Oriental—"

"And where are you?"

He rattled off the address.

"I can send someone to pick up Ming, but sending backup for Mai is going to take longer. Will you help her out?"

Tasuki laughed hollowly. "Well, I can't just fucking _leave her, _can I? But I ain't gonna be much help, so you better hurry."

* * *

Meian woke up and panicked.

Usually it was the case that when you wake up somewhere strange, crammed in the back of a van, hog-tied with zip ties, and with a raging headache, there's a moment of confusion first. Not so this time. Meian remembered exactly how she had gotten into this state and panicked.

Thinking a few of Mai's favorite curses, she rolled over and searched frantically for Chichiri. When she found him, she was equal parts relieved and even more freaked out because he was in the same situation except without the consciousness owing to the crusted head wound. They'd had to hit him much harder to knock him out.

"Don't worry, we didn't dent his head _too _much," came a voice. "But he reacted rather aggressively when we shot the tranquilizer into your neck, so we had to take action."

Meian half rolled back to see Ren sitting on a box above her head. "Hello, Sleeping Beauty," he said pleasantly.

She glared at him. "What do you want with us? Where are you taking us "

Ren sat back. "Well, to be frank, kill you. Horribly. But we have to be in front of that bitch friend of yours, or what's the point?" He lifted an eyebrow. "Very sloppy of you, honestly. Though I suppose not too bad for a last minute plan…but it won't work. I mean really. Us watching Mai is a given. When suddenly she gets rescued from one of our clubs by two men and another bitch, well. We _can _connect the dots. Though I admit, acquaintance with Nuriko and Hotohori was a bit of a shock. Mai is giving my sister and my cousin fakes, isn't she?"

Meian rolled her eyes. "Look if you already know what we've done, what was the point of dragging us along?"

"Well…" Ren's eyes cut to Chichiri, and the expression in them was not fond. "Your boyfriend broke my cellphone, and I forbid my men to carry any—it distracts them from their work. What choice do I have? I have to get to that warehouse myself and I'm taking the two of you along to kill horribly. Then we can kill that bitch Mai even more horribly." His eyes glittered. "And take our time about it. I've been _dreaming _about this moment for months."

Meian was saved from having to answer when there was a yell from the driver's seat and the van braked so hard that the backend rose off the ground. Meian screamed as she scrapped along the floor and slammed into the side, narrowly missing getting the rest of her bashed in when Ren almost fell on her. He shoved her away roughly and stuck his head in the front to scream Chinese obscenities at the driver. Aching, Meian raised her head high enough to see Ren's two men slumped over—the driver was unconscious, a sizable bloody dent in his head from impacting the steering wheel and the other man wasn't much better.

Just then the back door of the van opened. Ren whirled around with his gun and Meian just caught sight of a pink bubble before he squeezed a shot off. She lunged the best she was able with her limbs hobbled, but managed to knock him over. He yelled at her and smacked her aside with the gun butt. Pain exploding over her ear, Meian blinked away stars and blood as he leveled the gun at her.

"On second thought," Ren snarled, "I don't think that I can wait. You are almost as much of a pain in the ass as _she _is."

Meian closed her eyes as the shot rang off.

* * *

Mai didn't wait for Ming to make it to the door. Tossing the last bomb strapped under her skirt, she followed through as soon as the worst of the flames cleared and pounced on the nearest guard. Disoriented and with ears ringing, he didn't put up a fight at all as she clocked him and took his machine gun. But even with the heavier firepower, she didn't stand much of a chance being surrounded, so she tackled another guy. Dragging him backward by his collar to cover her, she winced as his body was jerked around by the bullets of his supposed comrades.

It wasn't long before she sensed her human shield's knees start to buckle and he became deadweight. To her surprise, the "dead" part wasn't literal—son of a bitch was wearing a vest and apparently no one had thought to go for a head shot. She got to the crates in the back—dragging his groaning body with her, she quickly searched him for more weapons but only found a couple of clips. Mai swore—what, did more guns spoil the line of his suit?—and she kicked him in the head to put him out for the count (not that he was up to do much anyway…vest or not, his chest was going to be one massive bruise). Shoving the clips down the front of her dress, she looked back just in time to see a massive ball of-

"Shit!"

Mai barely got clear as the ball of _chi _incinerated the crate she was hiding behind. "Goddamnit!" She'd forgotten that that Tenkou-asshole was a _chi _user. She rolled again as a hail of bullets peppered the area where she was before and ran, shooting blind behind her as she did. Another _chi _ball impacted the wall overhead and she put on another burst of speed to avoid the debris falling down as one of the steel shelves creaked and gave up the ghost.

Getting clear just in time, she nearly ran into a henchman rather more forward thinking than his comrades. Instead of just shooting at her as she ran, he had followed the line of her eventual route and positioned himself at the end with gun ready. He grinned at her gloatingly and waited for her to get just a little closer—

That was his mistake.

Mai's eyes widened as she caught sight of him, but her momentum was too great to stop. Instead, she altered course somewhat to bounce off and _up _from the wall to fly at the man at head height. Gaping stupidly at this sudden change in expected events, the goon got the full impact of her kick to his face. Mai's scream echoed his own as his nose broke under his foot and he went down. Cursing, Mai limped off—noses are harder than the comics will tell you, and doing that kick without shoes on was killer.

This cat and mouse chase around the warehouse continued for long enough that Mai wondered how the structure integrity of the place stayed intact. Everything she tried to hide behind got blasted to smithereens—and since Tenkou wasn't being too precise in his targeting, quite a lot else did too.

Eventually, as it was always going to, they got Mai with her back to the wall and nowhere to go. Her borrowed gun had ran out of shells a while ago, and after the first guy, the rest of the men stayed too close together for her to ambush another one. They were content to pick at her from a safe distance. All Mai could do was run…and when you are running for your dear life in a floor length evening gown, well…you _are _going to trip.

Mai scooted backward as Tenkou, Miiru and the others advanced, breath sawing in her lungs. She'd at least made it only a couple yards from the door, but right now those yards might have been miles.

"Well now," said Miiru, heels clacking on the floor. Her appearance was still as impeccable as always, not a lavender lock out of place. Mai, soaked with sweat and covered with grime and blood, hated her even more. Miiru knelt gracefully and pulled Mai's chin up with sharp fingernails. "You can run, I will give you that."

Mai smiled blackly. "Had to make you fucking work for it, didn't I?" It probably would have sounded better if she hadn't been wheezing. So she spit into that smirking face as well.

The effect of _that _was just what she would have wished. The lovely face contorted beautifully and Mai laughed out loud even as Miiru's nails laid her cheek open as the female Triad slapped Mai.

"_Bitch,_" Miiru hissed, in the worst of back alley accents.

Mai still laughed. "Watch it," she teased, "your _commonality _is showing."

Miiru backed up to stand with her cousin again. "Kill her," she snarled to Tenkou. "I was going to draw it out, but now I just want that bitch_ out of_ _my fucking sight."_

"My pleasure." Tenkou smirked as he raised one hand, deliberately letting the crackling energy of the _chi _ball build.


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer: Nope, no copyrights or permissions here. The only things that are_ _mine are the OOC's and the plot._

**Chapter 21**

Meian closed her eyes as the shot rang off. But, to her surprise, she continued to breathe. Opening her eyes again slowly, she gaped at the slumped over form of Ren on the other side of the van and realized that Chichiri's arms had come down around her. When Ren had hit her, he'd knocked her into Chichiri. Her boyfriend had started gaining consciousness when the van had stopped. His wrists were tied the same as hers, but he was still able to bring the circle of his arms over her head and use his hands to form the signs needed to create a forcefield that blew Ren back hard enough the other man blacked out. His shot had gone wild to send the bullet harmlessly through the roof.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, wincing a little.

"I-I'm f-fine," Meian stammered. "Oh god, are _you _ok?" The head wound had sustained had left blood crusted over his bad eye and he had to squint.

He managed a smile and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I will be. Where are we? What happened?"

Meian was explaining when the backdoors of the van opened again and a pink bubble that she'd seen earlier came flying in. Only the pink bubble actually contained a-

"Bad man knocked out now?"

"NyanNyan!" Meian and Chichiri cried simultaneously.

The little girl floated in, and her bubble popped so she could land on the floor next to them. After touching a small finger to the zipties, she freed their hands and feet and started healing the worst of their wounds. Meian sighed as the aches faded.

"What are you doing here no da?" Chichiri asked. Finding some rope and more zipties in the back, he started tying up Ren and Ren's two men while they were still unconscious.

"Tasuki called Taiitsukun," replied the NyanNyan. "He said Mai—"

Just then something exploded to their left, close enough that they all flinched and instinctively ducked. Raising her head, Meian stared as the sky started to burn gold and crimson.

"What was that, no da?"

The NyanNyan looked concerned. "That is where Tasuki said Mai was."

"And where is Tasuki?"

The NyanNyan looked even more concerned. "NyanNyan took Mai's friend Ming to safe place until Taiitsukun and others can get here, but Tasuki would not come. He went back—"

Chichiri and Meian looked at each other before running back into the van.

* * *

Mai closed her eyes. God, she was so fucking tired. Well, she could wish that she wasn't wearing this fucking ridiculous dress when she died, but then again, that _chi _ball was probably big enough that she would be incinerated anyway. So no one would ever know. Should be a big saving on funeral bills—no additional fees for the crematorium…

"REKKA SHIEN!"

"Wha?"

Now it was Mai's turn to gape as a wall of fire blasted its way between her and death. A hard hand grabbed her arm and hauled her up.

_What the hell?_

"Come on, this way! REKKA SHIEN!"

"Tasuki? What the fuck are you doing?"

"Saving your ass, what does it look like?" the redhead shot back. They cleared the doors.

"You were supposed to get out of here with _Ming, _you fucking _idiot_—SHIT!"

A hail of bullets over their heads sent them diving for cover into the stacks of shipping containers on the docks, waiting to be loaded in the morning. The dark made them a maze. The Triad had recovered from their surprise—as well as put out the flames on their person-and they looked _pissed. _

"Shit," whispered Tasuki, peering around the side of their shipping container. "I could have sworn that I fried more of them—what?"

Mai had made a whimpering sort of noise and slid down the side of the container. Panicking, Tasuki edged around to her front. "What, did you get shot—holy shit."

Mai couldn't work up the energy to glare at him, but he wasn't paying attention anyway. Between the fallen glass, gravel, dirt, metal shavings and other various sharp edged debris lying around on the ground, Mai's soles didn't so much resemble feet as bits of raw hamburger. The rest of her honestly wasn't much better…she hadn't been shot, thank god, but practically everything else judging by the various bruises and cuts decorating her person.

"Who's the idiot?" Tasuki hissed at her. "If I hadn't come back you would be dead! Just fucking look at you! I mean, what the hell did you do with your shoes?"

"I couldn't run in those damn things," Mai hissed back.

"So running your feet into bloody stubs is so much better, I get it." Rooting around in the duffel bag he was still carrying, Tasuki yanked out a knife and yanked up her skirt.

"What the FUCK—"

Tasuki dodged her kicking feet and hacked off the cloth below her knees in rough strips. Mai winced as he then wrapped the makeshift bandages around her feet but it stopped the bleeding and hopefully would keep them from ripping up anymore.

"You're welcome," he snapped at her, and flattened himself against the side of the container again as the flashlights beamed nearby. "Dammit." He tossed her the duffel bag but she grabbed him first.

"Where's Ming?" she demanded. "What about Meian and Chichiri?"

"I called Taiitsukun," he replied. "She sent a NyanNyan for Ming, who's going for Meian and Chichiri after she dropped Ming to a safehouse. Taiitsukun said that that she could send back up but—"

"It's going to take a while, dammit." Mai made a face.

"And what's up with that? I thought with that hag's resources—"

"It's complicated," Mai said, grabbing a holster and filling it with two guns and clips. "She tried to explain it to me once, but I don't really understand it myself. But the last time she was allowed on continent was when she adopted me, and even sending proxies to do her bidding is fucking hard. She can get around it if she wants to, like everything else but—"

"It takes time," Tasuki finished. "Shit." He pointed his chin forward. "What's past the containers?"

Mai bit her lip, trying to remember. "More warehouses and—" Her eyes went wide. "There might be boats."

"No shit, we're at the fucking _docks._"

"Shut up, I mean little speedboats for all the rich people. I think I still might remember how to hotwire one—"

"You _might_?"

"You got a better idea?" she shot back.

He looked at her and then grimaced. "Fuck it. No." He glanced forward and then upward. "Do you know your way out of these things?"

Mai peered into the darkness and dim rectangles of the shipping container maze and had to admit, "No."

He continued looking upward. "Can you climb?"

* * *

"Maybe we should have left her behind," Meian said.

"Oh, she won't be in any danger, no da," said Chichiri. "NyanNyans are a lot tougher than they look. Those bubbles—"

"Well…That's not what I was thinking. I was thinking that if we don't get there soon, the poor thing is going to vomit all over the dashboard."

Chichiri winced and drove faster. It didn't help.

Meian and Chichiri had dumped the unconscious forms of the van's former drivers along the side of the road and sped off toward the sound of the explosions and gunfire. The NyanNyan had flown in and insisted on coming along, and neither of them had wanted to waste time trying to persuade her otherwise. The only problem was that, in the dark, in unfamiliar territory, Chichiri's driving wasn't exactly the smoothest as he sped, braked, and jerked his way around. The NyanNyan, who was sitting in Meian's lap, was moaning piteously and getting greener by the second. Eventually, after about the third deadend and double back, Chichiri parked the car and shut the engine off. "We're not going to get there in time by _driving,_" he said to Meian's inquiring look. "It probably faster to walk, we just need to _get _there."

Looking over at the burning sky, the source of which had been frustratingly close for the past indeterminable minutes, Meian had to agree. Getting out, they opened the back of the car and ransacked it for anything that might be useful, but there wasn't really anything. The one thing that might be useful were the guns that Chichiri had taken off of Ren and the two thugs. He tucked one into the back of his pants, paused, and then looked at Meian.

"Do you know how to fire one?"

Meian bit her lip. "Mai took me to a shooting range _years _ago, but I—"

"NyanNyan would like a gun!"

"_No," _said Meian and Chichiri in unison.

"I can't," said Meian to Chichiri quietly.

"Ok, then you can stay here—"

"What? No!"

He looked at her steadily. "I am not," he said firmly, "going to put you in harm's way without some sort of defence. _I am not going to lose someone else. _If you aren't going to carry a gun, you aren't going to be anywhere near any others. Understand?_"_

Meian opened her mouth to reply but then shut it and looked at him steadily. Finally, she said, "I'm not going to carry a gun."

"Then—"

"But I'm not going to be left behind either. Do you know what is the first thing anyone with a Healing Gift learns?"

Chichiri blinked, blindsided by the seeming non-sequiteur. "What?"

"The cardinal fundamental rule of a doctor is _Do no harm. _Everyone knows that. But for a Healer, it's a little different. Instead, we are told not only not to harm but also _Healing is never easy. _Because its not. Training for a Healing Gift, even a minor one like mine, is just as involved as any advanced medical education because to Heal properly requires the same intense understanding of the human body."

"I still don't see—"

"It's hard work. But knowing anatomy, and biological functions, and all the myriad ways nerves and hormones and everything work together isn't the hardest. What's the hardest is realizing that years and years and years of study and practice and more study just to learn how to fix a headache, it takes nothing at all to change that headache into a brain seizure. Or to stop a heart. Or to trick the body into suffocating itself. Ripping things apart is far easier than putting it back together."

"You would never do something like that," Chichiri told her firmly.

She smiled at him. "But that doesn't stop from knowing how, or knowing how easy it would be. I don't need a gun to defend myself, and I don't want one." She put a hand on his cheek and kissed him. "You won't lose me."

* * *

Mai winced. Her feet hurt like the fucking blazes, and this tiptoeing shit wasn't helping either. But it was either bite her lip and get on with it or get made into Swiss Cheese by the goons below, so she bit.

She and Tasuki were making their way in agonizing slowness along the top of the shipping containers. Not a single man below had thought to look up, which was good, but the corrugated metal under their metal carried sound like no other. It had started raining, but only a drizzle, and the faint ping of raindrops on the metal wasn't nearly enough to cover a careless footstep. Mai actually had the edge here, given that her feet were already muffled by cloth, but Tasuki had to tie his laces and hang his shoes around his neck. They had to place each foot fall carefully, which meant that their progress probably could have been outpaced by an inchworm.

After what felt like an eternity, they made it to the end of the shipping container stacks and looked down over the edge. The problem was that with the height there was no way that they could avoid making a noise. But then again, they would be dropping on the opposite of the all the guns so intent on opening up their insides.

Tasuki looked at her and pointed down. She shook her head—_her _going first was going to be murder on her feet, even with the makeshift bandages, and she needed to be able to run fast after landing if they were going to make it to the docks. He tried to insist, probably out of some weird and fucking inconvenient sense of chivalry, until she flipped him the finger and mimed shooting him first if he didn't go. Tasuki rolled his eyes, but got ready. Mai grabbed his hands and braced herself for his weight as he edged himself backwards over the edge.

Unfortunately, one of their pursuers, finally at his end with frustration that they couldn't find their quarry and on edge with fear from the threats Tenkou and Miiru was screaming at them, trained his flashlight up and caught Mai's shadow.

Mai froze as the white light blasted over her back. Tasuki, who was dangling from her hands, stared up at her, eyes wide. He opened his mouth, to say what he never did know, because at that moment the yells began and a shot exploded and—

"Mai? Mai!"

"Shit," she said, and toppled forward.

They landed with a horrible crunch. The crunch was Tasuki's, and the pain was momentarily blinding, but he shook it off and dragged himself to Mai's body. "Mai! Mai-

"Goddamnit," she hissed and he exhaled. She struggled up, holding her shoulder, red rivulets spiraling down her arm. Then she stared at Tasuki's foot and-

Again a line of gunfire stopped the words. Mai spun around and fired with her good arm, while trying to drag Tasuki up and away. But the redhead gave a yell and his weight slammed her awkwardly into the side of the shipping container on her bad side.

"What the hell—"

Tasuki was white. "My foot—"

Mai swore again—that angle wasn't natural. She slung his arm over her shoulder so he could lean on her. "Come on!"

Tasuki would later be amazed that they didn't end up dead right there. With an awkward sort of hop-clump-shuffle, they crossed the ground like a drunken crippled sailor, which Mai trying to lay down covering fire with her bad arm since her good was supporting him. Luckily their pursuers seemed to have equally bad aim because Tasuki and Mai somehow made it behind a pile of drums next to the next warehouse over.

They collapsed, gasping, as bullets pinged off the metal cylinders behind them. As if on cue, the drizzle decided to intensify into true rain. Tasuki would have glared at the sky if he'd had any energy. But he didn't. He barely had enough to sit up, even with the help of the rusted metal drum behind him. Mai wasn't any better. He looked over at her, blue lipped and pale with the cold, that beautiful dress hacked off at the knees so the layers puffed out around her, mascara smeared around her eyes, and hair straggling like inky swirls down her face. She looked like a drowned fairy.

She looked over at him, and her lips shook into a barely-smile. "Well," she said, and blinked water from her eyes. "We're fucked."

But fairies didn't try to load guns with hands that shook. Tasuki looked at her for a moment more before taking the gun from her and loading it himself. Before he handed it back, he stripped off his jacket and put it around her shoulders.

Mai froze, and then curled fingers on the lapels. "God, you idiot," she whispered.

He shrugged. "You looked cold. Your hands were shaking."

"I'm not shaking from the goddamn _cold._" Pause. "But thanks." She sighed and rested the barrel of the gun to her forehead. "I'm sorry I got you into this. I shouldn't have—"

"We've discussed this already," he snapped. "You tried to keep us out of this, remember? We—I—chose to be here."

"Well, I'm sorry anyway."

A strafe of gunfire forestalled anything Tasuki would have said to that, and forced their heads down as bullets ricocheted off the mental scaffolding and shelves up overhead.

"You can't hide forever," Tenkou called. He didn't shout, but let the deep menace in his voice carry to them. "We have you surrounded, and you can't have much ammo left."

"Why don't you come and check?" Mai yelled back.

Miiru twisted a lock of lavender hair around her finger under her umbrella. "Don't be silly. Why should we?" A wave of her hand set another round of firepower to their position.

_Fuck, _Tasuki thought. They were boxed in, and despite Miiru's words, he could hear the footsteps getting closer. They were taking their time coming forward, prolonging the agony of suspense.

"What do we have left?" he hissed.

Mai pawed through the duffel, now mostly deflated. "Two clips, our guns and a grenade."

"And how many of them?"

"Too many."

"Right."


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Not mine at all, except for the original characters of Mai, Meian, etc

**Chapter 22**

Meian's hands and elbows throbbed from where she'd banged and scraped them against the pavement as Chichiri threw her out of the way. But she wasn't thinking about that.

"Chichiri—" her voice was a breathless squeak, as all the wind had been knocked out of her, but her mind was screaming almost as loudly as her boyfriend's was, as the other man laughingly tortured him in the middle of a shrieking gale of _chi _fire that sank sparking lightning into Chichiri's skin.

"I must say, I haven't had this much fun in ages. I wish that little bitch Mai had come back sooner if she had friends like you—"

"Let him go!" Meian yelled.

Yellow eyes flicked to her and then dismissed. "Be quiet my dear, I will get to you soon enough."

Meian's world seemed to shrink and darken around the edges—her heartbeat hammered in her ears. "I _said, _LET HIM GO."

He sighed. "And _I _said—"

* * *

"Look," said Tasuki, "I think you can make it."

Mai froze. "What?"

"To the docks. If you give me your gun, I can buy you enough time to grab a boat or—"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"-or dive into the water and swim away."

"No. Shut up and concentrate on shooting these bastards."

"Why not?" Tasuki demanded. "If you stay, you'll only—don't be fucking noble _now, _get the hell out while you still can! I can't make it, not with a fucked up ankle, but you can and there is no fucking point to both of us dying—"

"I AM NOT LEAVING YOU!"

Tasuki, whose mouth was open to say more, gaped at her. She'd grabbed him and yanked his collar forward when she screamed, and her blue eyes bored into his.

"I am _not _leaving you," she repeated, softer but no less intensely. "I am fucking _not, _so don't ask me again."

He got his mouth to work. "Look, if this is some…I told you before, I chose to come here. It wouldn't be your fault. So if it's guilt—"

"_That is not it._" She let him go and shoved one of their last clips into her gun. "I am not leaving you. That is the third and last time I'm saying it, so get that through your fucking head, alright?"

"You know," Miiru called, "I _could _do this all day. I have the manpower and the bullets. I _could _but I don't want to. It's boring and the rain is terrible for my hair. So do you mind just coming out so we can shoot you in the head and get it over with?"

"Why don't _you _come over _here, _so I can shoot _you _in the goddamn head?" Mai retorted. "Where's the goddamn grenade?" she hissed at him. "Didn't you say there was a grenade in here?"

"Here," he said pulling it out of the duffel. Then a thought occurred to him and he froze. "Wait, what are you going to do with—"

* * *

Tenkou sighed. This woman was really getting annoying. She was pretty enough he was hoping he'd be able to keep her around for further amusement, but it really wasn't worth it anymore. "And _I _said—"

WHAM.

Abruptly, Tenkou found himself face down on the ground, bits of gravel cutting sharply into his cheek. He blinked, puzzled, and raised himself up. "What—"

WHAM.

This time, movement was significantly harder.

"_Do I have your attention now?" _came a hiss.

Tenkou looked up to see that annoying woman advancing. She was wearing a dirty, torn ballgown that had been peach once upon a time and her hair was a straggly, tangled mess made worse by the rain. But the face that had been so amusingly crying and pleading with him before was completely gone, wiped away by a fury that radiated out of every line of her body. A small part of him began to wonder if he ought to worry.

He stomped it. "What did you do? Are you a _chi _user too? Odd, I didn't sense that—"

"No, you didn't, did you? _And don't even think about it!" _

Tenkou gasped as her hand shot out, sending a bolt of lightning into his chest, knocking the _chi _ball he had been building aside. This time it was his turn to scream as the lightning split into a cage of fiery threads that wrapped themselves around his heart and _squeezed. _

"What the hell is this?" he yelled, trying to yank the threads out of his chest and screaming again as they burnt red lines across his palm.

"Not fun, _is it?" _The threads spun back into a single rope of green light that the woman held. She yanked it sharply and Tenkou fell to his knees in agony. The green began to darken and turn black, but not as black as the smile gracing her face. "I stole beats out of your heart before. Now I'm going to squeeze that heart into pulp."

Tenkou didn't even understand the words, as he contracted into a ball of pain.

"S-stop it."

The words weren't his. He couldn't even open his mouth to speak, everything hurt too much.

"M-meian, please. _Stop it."_

Suddenly the fire faltered, and the flaming vise on his heart eased. Sweating, gasping, opening his eyes, Tenkou followed the bloody trail along the group to the form of that blue-haired _chi_ user he had been tormenting earlier. Somehow the man had dragged himself across the pavement to grab onto Tenkou's tormenter's to plead with her. She looked down at him and for a split second Tenkou thought she might rip his heart to shreds as well to but then her expression flickered.

"Chichiri…? But—"

"Don't do this. You can't—"

"But he—" Her eyes flicked to Tenkou and back. Her grip on his heart eased as she lost focus. "He…to you, he—"

"I know." The man was barely holding together, blood was streaming off him in red puddles, but still he was focusing utterly on his girlfriend. "But you can't be like him."

"I…" She closed her eyes and collapsed to the ground. "I'm sorry, I don't know what—"

The last of the threads flickered and died, and Tenkou nearly collapsed himself with relief. He reached for the _chi _but it wasn't there—he was utterly spent. Well, _chi _wasn't the only way to kill someone.

"This is all very _touching,_" he snarled, and the bitch with her noble idiot stared at him in surprise, "but I really have had enough of you both." With the last of his energy he whipped out the gun under his shirt and fired two shots.

* * *

Mai snatched the grenade from Tasuki's palm and leaned in close. "Listen, when I do, lean on me and run as fast as you can, ok?" She shoved the last clip into his gun. "Fire, don't take time to aim, ok? We just need to distract them long enough."

Tasuki got a bad feeling. "When you do fucking _what?"_

Mai ignored him. "Hey, Miiru-bitch. You listening over there?" She then shouted something in Cantonese.

Tasuki didn't know what she said, but it must have been a doozy because the silence afterward was total and he could practically hear all of Miiru's men cringing.

"You—you-GODDAMN IT, KILL THEM ALL!" Miiru shrieked.

"What the fuck did you say to her?" Tasuki demanded.

"You ready?"

"To do _what?_"

"Aw, fuck it." Mai yanked out the pin on the grenade and threw it. At the same time, she yanked Tasuki up and dragged him the best she could with one good arm while supporting his bad ankle. The explosion bought them precious few seconds and they had barely made it halfway across to the dock when their enemies recognized the grenade for the distraction that it was and refocused. It was a good thing that Mai's plan didn't depend on either of them shooting straight because between the cold rain turning their extremities numb and the fiery internal pain from their various injuries, they couldn't shoot for shit.

"This was your plan?" Tasuki demanded. "How the fuck is it any better than mine?"

"Shut up and keep moving," Mai shot back, breathless from trying to support his weight. She'd angled herself between him and their pursuers. Inch by inch they moved backward toward the water—Mai risked a quick look back when they were close enough and grabbed Tasuki's gun.

"Hey—"

"The boat is behind us," she hissed in his ear, "when I tell you—"

Tell him what, she never did say because there was a lucky shot. Mai's word choked off in burble of blood as a bullet slammed into her chest. Tasuki fell as her supporting arm slipped through his as she collapsed.

"Mai!" he screamed and turned her over.

"Fuck," she spit out crimsonly, flecks of blood spilling over her tongue. Her blue eyes looked at him and to his horror she tried to smile. "Sorry."

"Shit, don't talk," he begged. Helpless, he put a hand over the red staining her chest but it seemed to leak everywhere. "Don't—stay back!"

This last was directed at the other guns all around them. The Triad had finally caught up with their quarry. Tasuki raised his gun to fire a last desperate bullet but pain exploded at the back of his head as a gun butt slammed into it. He fell forward and barely caught himself with his hands before his skull cracked open on the pavement but a hard boot crashed into his ribs, toe impacting hard enough that Tasuki let out a cry of pain as he was kicked over onto his back. Another foot ground his wrist into the concrete as their guns were plucked from their grasps and tossed away.

Miiru's heels clicked forward as she emerged behind the wall of black-suited goons. Her raised hand was the only reason their guns hadn't ripped what little was left of Tasuki and Mai to pieces. Miiru's smirk was that of a shark circling its prey, savoring the moment.

"Well, _finally. _My god, I wish I could record this moment for all eternity, so I can watch that bitch's death _over, and over and over again. _But, well, I suppose I can live without it. Now, I really just want you both _dead. _Boys?" With a final nasty smile, she stepped back out of range and let her hand fall.

But the bullets didn't come.

After a minute, Tasuki creaked his eyes open to see a bunch of bodies either limp on the ground or, in the case of Miiru, trapped in a giant pink bubble. Miiru was screaming something, but all he could hear was a muffled yell.

"What the—_Nyan Nyans?"_

One of the little girls floating above his head snapped her fingers. Abruptly Miiru went limp, though from the rise and fall of her chest she was just unconscious and not dead. Tasuki wouldn't have thought to consider Nyan Nyans and death in the same sentence before, but that was before he saw them floating about dressed in what appeared to be black SWAT suits and looking uncharacteristically grim. Coupled with the undeniable pinkness of their bubble and their small stature, the Nyan Nyans should have looked ridiculous, but somehow they didn't.

One of them swooped closer and looked right at him. "What's the damage?" she asked briskly.

Tasuki coughed, and felt the iron and salt taste of blood in his mouth. Every breath was a struggle—those bastards must have cracked a rib. "Fuck. Everything? But fix _her_."

The Nyan Nyan nodded. Seconds later his hand was moved from Mai's chest and a green bubble popped in its place. Tasuki didn't know what it was doing, but evidently something good because the blood flow stopped and he thought that maybe Mai was breathing a little easier. The both of them were encased in a larger bubble, this one pink again. They rose up from the concrete and were carried along. Tasuki slumped back down again and squeezed Mai's hand tight.

* * *

Tenkou's shots never reached their target. Like a slow motion machine, they somehow lost their momentum in midair and dropped harmlessly to the ground. Just as Tenkou registered what happened, he was encased in a pink bubble.

"Well," said a familiar scratchy voice, "by the looks of you two, I need to work on my timing."

"Taiitsukun!" Meian gasped. At the same time, Chichiri's body decided to give up and he slumped against her. "Chichiri! No, please—"

Taiitsukun sighed and waved a hand. Two NyanNyans flew out from behind her and popped her former assistant in a bubble to carry him away.

"Wait!" Meian struggled upright. "Wait, where are you taking him?"

"To get healed, where else?" Taiitsukun snapped. She gave Meian the once-over. "And you might think about going yourself. _You _on the other hand—" She flicked a finger at Tenkou, who had been hammering on his pink prison, "—are going somewhere far less comfortable," Tenkou suddenly dropped down, unconscious, "along with those cousins of yours. The others should have collected them by now—ah, there they are."

Meian followed her gaze to the other pink bubbles floating towards them, accompanied by more Nyan Nyans, and—"Mai! Tasuki!" Yanking up her skirts, she stumbled towards them. To her horror, they both were lying limp in an extra large bubble, the blood soaking their clothes clear even through the pink film.

"Oh god, are they—"

"Mai Mai and Tasuki not all right," replied a Nyan Nyan, "but they will be. We have them stabilized for now, but Nyan Nyan afraid this is going to be a long night." Without another word, it and the rest of the little floating girls swept off. Meian was going to run after then again when she was blocked by Taiitsukun.

"What—where are they going?"

"Where we are going," said Taiitsukun. "Back to Japan. I've stayed too long here as it is."

"They need a hospital!" cried Meian. "Chichiri was hurt very badly and Mai and Tasuki—"

"Are not much better off, I know!" snapped Taiitsukun. She sighed and relented a little. "I and my Nyan Nyans can give them all much better care in Japan than any of the doctors here. Besides, with all the commotion here, we can't risk the legal consequences that will incur if the police get a hold of you all in a local hospital."

Meian had to concede the point, but… "But how are we supposed to get back to Japan? Do you have a plane here?"

"We can't waste out time with that," said Taiitsukun. "I have a faster way."


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer: Not mine. Well, the plot, and the various OOC and my idea of the characterizations is, but the actual FY characters and original concept its not. Please, don't sue. _

**Chapter 23**

Tasuki woke up surrounded in white. Vaguely confused, he rolled over and thought he might be laying in a cloud.

After a while his brain caught up with the rest of him and he realized that he wasn't lying in cloud but a very fluffy bed. Blinking, he sat bolt upright in surprise and squinted into the sunlight. After his eyes adjusted, he looked around. The last thing he remembered was the docks, the last minute save and the thought of _well, shit, it's about fucking time _running through his head. But somehow he had managed to get transported to a beautiful bedroom in some mansion—well, at least he assumed it was. The bed was all in white, but no one decorated just one room in gorgeous tiled floors all the colors of the rainbow, arching vaulted ceilings, and a giant bay window that seemed less built to keep the world out as to encapsulate it in. It was letting in the rays of light that were drenching the room in gold.

There was a groan and Tasuki was so shocked that he let out a sound that was most definitely _not _like that of a startled mouse.

Okay, apparently he wasn't alone in the room.

There was another groan and Tasuki turned his head around so slowly he thought he could feel his bones creak.

Beside him, Mai screwed up her nose and flipped around to snuggle a little deeper into the blankets. Tasuki very nearly did _not _let out another squeak, but when she didn't do anything else, relaxed. Laying back down carefully, he looked at her with a kind of fascination. Her hair was a stark inky contrast to the white sheets all around them, and her profile fell cleanly against the pillow. As Tasuki had noted before, true smiles changed Mai's face to something breathtaking, but repose did the same thing…even the bruises on her face, and the faint red remnants of healing scratches and cuts seemed to smooth and fade. Their faces were so close that he could feel the faint warm breeze of her breath tickling his nose and he had to clench his fist hard to keep from touching the few strands of hair drifting over her face…

Suddenly he froze. The feeling of soft weave over the skin of his fist made him notice the feeling of soft weave over the skin over _other _parts of him…quite a _lot _of him, actually. _Too fucking much of him_. With a great sense of dread he lifted the edge of the blanket to peer underneath.

_Oh shit,_ he thought, screwing his eyes shut. Unfortunately his suspicions were confirmed and Tasuki was not wearing a stitch. And, from the lightning glimpse he had gotten of the warm body beside him before he turned as red as his hair, Mai wasn't either.

_Oh shit, _he thought again, mind racing. He needed to get out of this bed and fucking _fast. _Trying not to rock the mattress, he began moving glacially to the edge of the bed.

Unfortunately it wasn't good enough and there was another groan. Eyes round, Tasuki watched in dread as Mai's eyelids twitched and then flickered open. A pair of very blue eyes focused on him. Then flicked downward, under the covers.

Silence reigned.

Then, just as Tasuki began to cringe in anticipation of an outraged yell and hard fist, Mai's eyebrows quirked together and she said, "_Fuck._" She flipped to her back and glared at the ceiling. "Fuck. Every single fucking time, I swear."

Tasuki blinked. "What?"

She sighed. "That old hag's idea of a joke."

"She thinks this is _funny?_"

"Yeah, don't you?" Mai replied sarcastically. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"Getting dressed, what does it look like?" Tasuki replied, and continued to move toward the edge of the bed.

"You can't do that!"

"Why the hell not, you _want _me to stay here, bare-assed naked?"

"That's not what I meant!" she snapped, red faced. "You're taking the whole damn blanket with you!" She yanked it back.

He tried to do the same. "Well, I can't get the damn clothes without it, now fucking can I?" he gestured angrily at the pile stacked on a table just out of reach.

"You can't take _this, _I'm using it, get a, a, a pillow or something…"

"Just give me the damn blanket! You get a fucking pillow!"

"I have more to cover than you!"

He stared at her. "Here's an idea," he drawled finally, "why don't _you _wrap the blanket around yourself and move _with _me to get the damn clothes."

"Oh," She blinked, "ok, that might work."

"Yeah, just fucking maybe."

"Shut up." It took a couple tries for her to sit up because she kept wanting to put weight on her bad arm, and the strain on her chest wasn't helping either, but she managed to sit up and tuck the blanket around herself. Tasuki did the same and they moved across the floor in an odd crablike motion. If anyone saw them, they probably would both die of embarrassment. Tasuki's ankle had been taped up and braced but he couldn't put any weight on it either, so Mai had to help support him, but _her _feet were still tender as well so she winced with every step and had to take her steps with exaggerated slowness and care. After about an age, they reached the table.

Tasuki tossed Mai her clothes and they turned their backs on each other to get dressed. This was very difficult. True, they weren't in danger of death anymore, but whatever Healing magic Taiitsukun had done did _only _that and they were covered in enough bandages and braces that they almost didn't need the sheet. Almost wasn't _didn't _though, so the two were struggling to hold the sheet up with an arm that couldn't be raised higher than the ribcage and an ankle wrapped in a bulky brace though the soft fabric of cotton tops and pants that flopped around everywhere.

"Need help?"

The acoustic qualities of the tiled room made sure the screams echoed for some time. It also made the slipping and subsequent _falling _onto said tile very painful.

"Ow! Fuck! Goddamnit!"

Taiitsukun and several Nyan Nyan eyed the heap that was Tasuki and Mai in amusement. "You know, you aren't _completely _healed. I would have thought that the bandages the two of you are practically mummified in would have clued you in," Taiitsukun said, raising an eyebrow.

Tasuki and Mai's reply was unprintable as they struggled to get out of the tangle of sheets on the floor. Mai had landed on Tasuki, banging his ankle and her shoulder in a truly agonizing fashion. Both of them recoiled in pain, but during the fall the sheet had gotten loose, resulting in their bodies, still unclothed, getting thrown together in a rather un-PC fashion, making movement without accidently brushing...something...very difficult. After a few minutes, Taiitsukun signed and waved to the Nyan Nyans. With clinical efficiency, the little maids got Mai and Tasuki untangled and apart and into their clothes with the minimum of pain and undue flashing.

Mai glared at her former guardian, breathing heavily. The damage to her chest and lung was very apparent, making any physical activity beyond breathing an exercise of ridiculous strain. "I suppose you thought that was _funny," _she sniped, as a NyanNyan braided her hair and another one mopped the sweat from her forehead.

Taiitsukun shrugged. "Given the work that we had to do on you, I thought I was due a little fun. The two idiots didn't pull any stitches, did they?" This last was directed to the Nyan Nyans.

"Nope!" they replied sunnily.

"Good. Now sit, I need to fill you in now that you both are up."

Taiitsukun and the Nyan Nyans had whisked Mai, Tasuki, Meian and Chichiri out just before the cops arrived to find Ren, Tenkou and Miiru floating unconscious in giant pink bubbles that popped as they approached. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, the police had them all cuffed (as well as any of the Triad's men who hadn't run away) and packed into police cars in a trice. Due process was followed, but given the absence of anyone else to blame, the evidence at the scene, and the evidence pointing to the three from half a dozen open cases, the conclusion was foregone. It was highly unlikely that the greater criminal organization was going to afford them third chance given how spectacularly they had blown their second, so the sentences handed down in one of the quickest trials in history would be served in full.

In the underworld, word had circulated that Ming (who was returned safely if a bit battered to his parents), Tong, and the rest of Mai's old friends were to be left alone or punishments would be severe. It wasn't that Ren, Miiru and Tenkou's former organization was being _nice. _The Triad heads were simply cutting their losses-they couldn't afford any more embarrassments and since the attempt to rub out the source had failed, they were now trying to not give that source any reason to come back. Mai was still considered _persona non grata _there, but at least any of her associates were safe from anything other than the normal dangers associated with living.

Meanwhile, Mai, Tasuki, Meian and Chichiri had been all badly in need of medical attention-Mai, from a gunshot wound to the shoulder and another to her chest and dangerously close to a lung; Tasuki, from a broken ankle and fractured to broken ribs; Meian from exhaustion, both physically and magically; and Chichiri, also from magical exhaustion and burns both inside and out. None of them could wait to be admitted into a regular hospital, or waste time explaining _why _they needed admittance in the first place, so Taiitsukun transported them back to her place. It took all night and all the power that Taiitsukun and the Nyan Nyan's possessed, but they managed to drag the four of them back to this side of the living. The rest of the healing had to be on their own, hence the remaining bandages and the crutch that a Nyan Nyan was handing Tasuki.

"You are welcome to stay here until you are well enough to hobble out," Taiitsukun said briskly. "There are a few days left of Spring Break-"

The words hit Tasuki like a slap. Shit, this _was _Spring Break, wasn't it? Hell of a vacation-

"-and I can notify your professors if you need more time."

"Uh, thanks."

"Your friends Meian and Chichiri are down the hall, should you want to see them, and there is food in the kitchen. Now, I have things to do and need to get some rest myself. Try not to blow up anything or cause any more international incidents while I'm gone." Taiitsukun made to float off when Mai grabbed her sleeve.

"Taiitsukun...thank you."

Taiitsukun frowned. "Sure."

"I mean...really. I'm sorry and...thank you."

They stared at each other for a moment before Taiitsukun sighed and placed a hand on Mai's head. "I knew you were trouble the moment I saw you, but I couldn't help myself then, and I still can't now. You're welcome." She dropped a light kiss on the top of Mai's head and floated off. The Nyan Nyans followed her.

* * *

"Just down the hall" seemed more like miles in Tasuki's and Mai's present condition, but they hobbled their way down nonetheless. The room was similar in design as theirs had been, with vividly colored tiles in stark contrast with white sheets and the metal medical machinery. Meian was standing with her back to them, frowning at the readout of one of the machines.

"Meian."

Meian turned around at the sound of Mai's voice and she smiled—but she looked tired. Physically she probably got off the easiest of them all, with only a few bandages to show for her ordeal, but her eyes were bruised and her skin was pale. Still, the happiness and relief in her eyes was real.

"Did you sleep well?" she whispered.

Mai and Tasuki nodded, but looked at the reason for her soft tone on the bed. Chichiri was lying there with his eyes closed, only the faint stir of the sheets over his chest and dull beep of the machines showing that he was still breathing. Meian was holding his hand.

"How is he?"

Meian sighed and sat. "Stable. He…took the most of the attack. Taiitsukun and the Nyan Nyans had to force him into…well, she called it a healing trance. It'll take some time, and he'll wake up rather weak but he is on the mend."

Mai and Tasuki looked at each other. If Taiitsukun has to basically force Chichiri into a coma because his body couldn't even spare the resources necessary to remain conscious in order to recover, it must have been really _really _bad. Mai made a fist. But then…how exactly did they get away, and with Meian with little more than a few scrapes? Tenkou was an accomplished _chi _user, probably the best in Hong Kong which was a major reason why the Triad there was so willing to consider adding him and his cousins to their organization—Meian should be in as bad of shape or worse than Chichiri. There was something—

Mai opened her mouth to ask but Meian looked at her and there was some sort of…shadow that flickered across her friend's face. Mai changed her mind and only said, "Tasuki and I are going to the kitchen for something to eat. Did you want anything?"

Meian blinked and then smiled tiredly. "No, thank you. I'm not hungry—the Nyan Nyan's brought me some food earlier." She waved at a tray sitting on a table, the contents of which were completely untouched.

Mai frowned and reached out for her friend's shoulder. "Meian…"

"Yes?"

The words died in her throat and after a moment, Mai sighed and shook her head. "Get some sleep, ok? You look like shit."

Meian smiled again, but it didn't look any better the second time. "I will, later."

Mai stood there, still feeling like she should say something but not having the foggiest sense of what, until Tasuki tugged at her good arm. Giving up, they left the room.

* * *

Despite the size of Taiitsukun's mansion, it had only one kitchen, which was downstairs. Taiitsukun enjoyed food as much of the next person but was _not _a chef and probably only had a kitchen as a bow to the conventional standards required of a living place. She at least did appear to appreciate the aesthetic potential of such a place and figured that if she was going _have _a kitchen it might as well be a damned good looking one, even if she never used it. Therefore, the kitchen was a contemporary chef's dream, which gleaming marble countertops, warm wooden Shaker cabinets and stainless steel appliances. Mai located the milk, the juice, the butter the jam, the cereal, the oatmeal, the croissants and the fruit, and loaded up the little kitchen cart. There were eggs and bacon in the fridge, but neither of them felt like cooking.

The kitchen was open to the main living space, where a wall of windows let in streams of morning sun. Mai wheeled the cart of food to the sofa, and Tasuki and Mai promptly flopped on it. Mai turned on the television, but Tasuki didn't really pay much attention to it at first, giving how preoccupied he was with stuffing his face. Mai did the same and they ate in comfortable silence before leaning back into the cushions.

"Well?" Tasuki said after a while, as they watched the photogenic news anchors on the tv blather on about the newest low calorie recipe and how to match your purse to your shoes (and when not to do so).

"Well what?" asked Mai, sliding down a little on the couch and yawning.

"Well, what are you going to do now?" he asked. "I mean…"

Mai looked at him inquiringly as he trailed off and didn't finish. "You mean what? Tasuki, spit it out."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess it's not worth asking. I mean, the only reason you came to Japan was because of the Triad and they are all gone and in jail now, right? So when are you planning on going back?"

"Oh." Mai blinked and then looked down, nibbling on a nail. "Oh."

"So?"

"Well, I don't know."

That surprised him. "You don't?"

She wouldn't look up. "I…well, I mean…"

A little bit of hope began to bloom into his chest, and this time it was his turn to say, "You mean what? Spit it out."

She shifted a little nervously. "I…You heard Taiitsukun. It ain't as ifit's all that safe to go back to Hong Kong. Tenkou, Miiru and Ren are locked up, but I can't be, you know, all that damn popular with the _actual _Triad, you know? They aren't, weren't with _officially _with the Triad, but they were still _sort of _and what I didn't couldn't have… They're _supposed _to be leaving me and mine alone, but I'd rather not test how far that goes. Would you be happy with somebody who fucking blew up your… I guess I could just so somewhere else, but I mean _where _and I-" Her mouth snapped shut as she realized she was babbling and she slid down farther. "I'm trying to say…I guess it's not so bad here." Her voice was quiet. "I guess I could stay. For a while. You know?"

Tasuki looked down at the glossy black head by his shoulder and thought he saw the faintest blush edge across her nose. He began to grin slowly and settled back more comfortably against the couch. "Yeah. Sure. Just for a while. Doesn't have to be anything permanent, right?"

"Yeah," Mai replied, easing a little. "Yeah. I can still leave at any time. I mean, I'm only staying until things calm down a little more. That's…all."

Tasuki nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Mai looked at him sharply, but when Tasuki continued to stare at the TV, she decided not to say anything.

They sat in silence for a little while longer as the morning talk shows droned own. After a while, Tasuki's head began to nod in the peacefulness of the morning, but before his eyelids could shut completely a warm weight knocked against his shoulder. He looked down to see Mai resting her head against his shoulder.

"Hey—"

"Shut up," she mumbled, "I'm tired."

He looked at her for a second longer.

Then Mai's eyes flew up and she let out an undignified squawk as her legs were swept off the coffee table and the rest of her body spun sideways to lay lengthwise on the bed. Care was taken to accommodate her sling and Tasuki's cast. A second later her legs were tangled comfortably with Tasuki's and she slid down to fit snugly under his chin.

"What the hell?"

"Quiet," muttered Tasuki. This close she could hear the rumble of his voice in his throat and faint beat of his heart in his chest. His breath fanned over her hair and she stiffened slightly as his arm lay over her waist. "I'm tired too."

_So you what, fucking cuddle me? _She thought and was a breath away from saying it but…well…it was somewhat embarrassing to be sandwiched between him and the couch back but it wasn't you know, _uncomfortable. _In fact it was really, actually, quite the opposite.

For once, Mai's feminist nature and general smart mouth got a decisive smack and went down for the count. And, after a few more seconds, so did the rest of her.

* * *

_What's next? Don't worry, the story doesn't end here…I've still got a few ideas ;) What the crew plan to do on their summer vacation for a start…_


End file.
